Perranzabuloe Mining District - West Wheal Chiverton

OS Explorer Map 105: Grid reference SW793508

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West Wheal Chiverton lies one and a half miles southeast of Perranzabuloe roughly midway between Callestick and Marazanvose in the Perranzabuloe Mining District of Mid Cornwall. A fine engine house and other remains are located on the western flank of woodland near Polvenna, about half a mile southwest of Zelah . The mine worked three major lodes: North Lode (also known as Elizabeth Lode), Middle Lode and South Lode (also known as Williams' Lode) they were worked from Batter's (New Engine) Shaft, Glubb Shaft, Burgess Shaft, Hawke's Shaft (also known as Hock Shaft) and Susanna Shaft. It shares its southern boundary with Mineral Bottom Mine.

West Wheal Chiverton was mainly a lead mine producing over 45,000 tons of high grade lead in its lifetime. The mine also raised well over one million ounces of silver in the second half of the nineteenth century. Its nearest neighbours were Chiverton Mine, a short distance to the northeast, Grid Ref. SW797512, Great Chiverton Consols just over one and a half miles to the east (SW820512) and Lambriggan Mine two miles to the west at Grid reference SW760511.

A good account of the state of West Chiverton in the mid 1860's comes from Thomas Spargo's book of 1865, entitled 'Statistics and Observations on the Mines of Cornwall and Devon' where he writes '... in Perranzabuloe, Cornwall, in 3,000 shares. Purser, Mr. Richard Clogg, Liskeard. Manager, Captain James Juliff, Truro. Lords, Mr. Peter Ley's executors., and Messrs. Jago, Geach, and Hoskin. Dues 1-15th. Adit, 5 fathoms; depth under adit, 90 fathoms. Pumping-engine, 80-inch. Winding-engine, 24-inch. Winding and crushing engine, 22-inch.

This is one of the great prizes which speculators occasionally find in their pursuit of mineral wealth. As is usual in such cases, this great discovery has given a stimulus to mining in Perranzabuloe. Engine-houses are springing up in all directions, and most of the land in the parish has either been leased for mining, or applied for to that end. I hope that favourable results will follow this great movement'.

Records of production are: 45,799 tons of 73% lead ore, 1,235,121 ounces of silver and 22,782 tons of 37-50% zinc ore between 1859 and 1886. It also raised 16 tons of 6.25% copper ore between 1847 and 1874 and 15 tons of 4.5% copper ore in 1876.

Now that 'World Heritage' status has been achieved Cornwall in Focus will monitor developments and learn how the mines of the Perranzabuloe Mining District fare within the overall Mining framework.

For those of you with possibly a little more time to explore, once you've done 'the tourist bit', why not explore Cornwall's industrial heritage through its Tin and Copper Mines or learn more from my Cornish Bookstore