Wendron Mining District - West Wheal Providence

OS Explorer Map 103: Grid reference SW582345

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West Providence Mine should not be confused with mines of a similar name in the St Ives Mining District. This particular mine is situated just south of the St. Erth Praze to Fraddam road in the Mid-West Cornwall. It lies one and threequarter miles southwest of Gwinear Village. Chiefly a tin producer, the mine also raised a little copper. It lay just to the west of Wheal Providence and worked two lodes - Main Lode and Branch Lode from numerous shafts. Shafts included Boundary; St. Aubyn's; Michell's; Hawkins', No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and Praed's Shafts. The mine was abandoned in 1865.

Thomas Spargo writes little about West Providence Mine in his 1865 book, entitled 'Statistics and Observations on the Mines of Cornwall and Devon'. He simply writes, '... in St Erth, after yielding large returns of tin is now idle'.

For more information on production dates and so on please see Roger Burt's excellent book Cornish Mines: Metalliferous and Associated Minerals, 1845-1913 (Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom, 1845-1913) or what is widely regarded as the mining enthusiasts bible by H G Dines - The Metalliferous Mining Region of South-West England: Vols I & II (Economic Memoirs).

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