Explore the Tin Mine, Trenere Wolas Gardyns & the Cornish National Heritage Collection

GOLDEN JUBILEE YEAR 2021- 2022. Our intention is to give an interesting, engaging and educational introduction to Cornwalls mining and social heritage. The museum and grounds are home to many unique exhibits, interpreting the fascinating story of the Cornish miners overseas and at home. The Cornish Heritage Collection opened its doors for the very first time on June 1st 1971 - so June 2021 to June 2022 was our GOLDEN JUBLILEE YEAR - the museum offers something of interest to people of all ages and from all walks of life.

The group of actors in the photograph above were at the mine during on location filming that took place here for the BBC Television Poldark series that was first broadcast during 2015. The group dressed as miners from the 1700s are standing just outside the mine entrance. Wheal Roots Mine Workings known as The Poldark Mine is the only Cornish Mine where underground on location filming for the series was undertaken. The mine was also a location for the two BBC 1970s series of Poldark and several other productions and programmes such as BBC TV series Flog It. The Man in the Iron Mask had his mask made and fitted at Wendron Forge in the 1977 TV production, most other locations being in France. Another, shorter, BBC television series Penmarric was filmed at the mine in 1979.

WENDRON MINING DISTRICT

We are in the heart of the Wendron Mining District and are its interpretation centre with maps & details of the many mines and tin workings in the locality. By 1779, the Wendron area was the most populated mining district in Cornwall with 9,000 inhabitants – this was double the size of the combined populations of Camborne, Redruth and Illogan!

The parish of Wendron is the oldest mining district in Cornwall, in the oldest granite in Cornwall by some 20 million years! The Cober River Valley was one of the most important tin streaming areas.

Tin Streaming started in the area during the Bronze Age. The testament to this is the Trenear Mortar Stone in the grounds of the Poldark Mine of today. It is a ground-fast granite outcrop that was used some 3000 to 4000 years ago by ancient man to pulverise the alluvial tin ore from the Cober River. Its now listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument of National Significance and has many mortar holes & indentations. Its the only such location in all of England.

Tin Streaming thrived in the area during medieval times, the museum at Poldark Mine has no less than three Mediaeval Mortar Stones on display which were excavated in the grounds.

Wendron became part of the Cornish mining boom from the 1700s – the parish had very rich deposits of tin. Copper & a small China Clay mine also operated beside Poldark Mine for a time, with some 640 known mining sites of one sort or another. For these reasons, Wendron is Area 4 of the ten areas of the Cornish & West Devon Mining Landscape inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2006.

The River Cober meets with the Medlyn River on Porkellis Moor. The combined rivers become the River Cober which flows through the grounds. Its rushing waters powered the Wendron mining industry. Over time, the river was diverted in 1284 along leats to work waterwheels here and other machinery, the first being at Poldark Mine which is served by a mile and a half long leat branching from the river at Porkellis Moor. The leat remains to this day and was created around the end of the 13th Century by Cistercian monks who were given the land on September 15th in 1284.

Cornwalls [probably the worlds] first ever water-powered tin stamping mill and its leat was erected at Trenere Wolas [Lower Trenear - the Trenere Wolas Gardyns of today] in the 13th or early 14th Century by Cistercian monks from St Marys Abbey at Rewley in Oxford who had been given the Wendron Church and lands by Royal Charter confirmed on September 15th 1284 - 740years ago in 2024! The Black Prince gave further lands to the Rewley Abbey monks along with Stithians Church in 1354 - 668 years ago in 2022. The tin mill and water wheels were recorded in the Royal Assession Rolls as still working in 1493 when a lease to a John Trerys was renewed, and also during the Commonwealth in the 1650s another freeman tenant was recorded at the Tin Mill & Tin Dressing floors, Henry Leonard. The mill continued in use until the late 1870s.

Trenear became the residential and industrial hub of Wendron. In 1650, it was recorded that there were wheelwrights and blacksmiths workshops, a blowing house (for smelting tin), and crazing and stamping mills (for grinding and crushing the ore bearing rock). During the 1800s, at least four stamping mills operated in the area – known as Salena, Bodilly, Glebe, with Wendron or Trenear Stamps being the major one with four water wheels and had up to 55 heads of stamps at its peak.

WOMEN & WENDRON MINES Great Wheal Lovell in Wendron, just over a mile from Poldark Mine & Museum on private land visible from the road just beyond the village on the way to Helston, has a unique claim to fame as being the only mine in this part of Cornwall known to have been overseen by a woman. Between 1840 and 1845, a Mrs Lydia Taylor was the mine manager.

BAL MAIDENS A woman’s usual role in mining was to work on the dressing floor as a ‘bal maiden’. They crushed up ore bearing rock into small pieces on special anvils with large hammers, and carefully sorted the valuable ore from the waste mineral. Bal maidens usually wore large bonnets called ‘gooks’ to protect their heads and faces from flying stones, and a coarse hessian apron (a‘towser’) to protect their skirts. Their legs were often wrapped in strips of material to protect them from the cold and damp.

FANNY MOYLE, a 14 year old child was working a Frame Girl at Wendron Tin Stamps here in our gardens in 1871 - her mother Susan was Count House Keeper and a widow at the age of just 36. Susans sister Elizabeth was 30 and a Mine Assistant. We also know the names of a family that worked the Glebe [or Wood] Stamps close by, these were the Penalunas. Richard and Charity and their two sons Richard and James were sub tenants of Trenear or Wendron Tin Stamps from circa 1854 to the 1870s. We have a photograph of the family in the museum.

WORLD HERITAGE

Described by UNESCO as the Jewel in the Crown of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Inscription the outstanding underground tour of the workings at what was known as Hwel Roots [Wheal Roots Tin Mine Workings] at the Poldark Mine of today gives a unique insight into working conditions in 18th and early 19th century tin mines and into the geology of Cornwall. It is the only complete underground mine open to the public in Cornwall. Visitors are able to see the distinctive blue peach tinted veins of tin bearing ore coursing through various parts of the mine. What remains has about 0.8% tin content.

For an overview of the history of the grounds see the quick page links panel on the right.

THE DAWNING OF A NEW MUSEUM ......

2024 will be our ELEVENTH Summer since the historic mine re-opened in June 2014, and over 50 years since the Cornish National Heritage Collection - one of the first Industrial Heritage Museums in the UK - first opened its doors on June 1st 1971 - a Golden Jubilee. New philanthropic private ownership from Spring 2014 has brought about a firm educational policy of Cultural Heritage Management supported by volunteers, generous contractors and a small staff team. We strive to maintain an authentic feel to the mine and buildings where we can, the ramshackle nature of Cornish mines has been retained and termed mineshackle The museum became a member of the Association of Independent Museums [AIM] during that decisive year of 2014.

Treasures of the collections

The museum is a gathering together of several important collections. The main one being the Holman Museum Collection which joined the Peter Young Collection of Industrial Machinery which started here in 1966 when the first part of the land was acquired by our founder the late Peter Young. This was one of the first industrial heritage collections in the UK, and was started before the term had been coined. The largest machine was the Bunny Tin Mine beam engine which was moved here from Greensplat by a team of volunteers in 1972.

The Peter England Collection of Curios arrived a little later and quite a lot of those curios remain today and form the core of the Cabinet of Curiosities and a selection of hands on items. Peter England himself became curator when he retired to Cornwall from being a lecturer at Paddington College. Sadly the beautiful Sissons engine used for training at Paddington College which became a feature of the Cornish National Heritage Collection museum for many years was sold off during the dark years from 2000 to 2013. We would like to bring it back one day.

A new collection of objects arrived in 2014 together with our custodian, this is known as the Techno Tin & Copper Collection and encompasses telegraphy, telephony and a wide range of antique items fashioned from tin and copper. This includes our first pipe organ, the King of Instruments which has links to telephony.

The Wesleyan or Methodist Connexion Collection started in 2014 with some items collected by our new custodian. Since that time the first of no less than seven pipe organs was moved from nearby Treverva Chapel along with many papers and other items from the closed chapels. So there is also a great gathering of smaller objects from many closed chapels in Cornwall. The collection of the late Graham Jacket added many items which he had laboriously saved from a number of long closed chapels. His daughter, Morwenna Bennett, ensured that two Sunday School banners from Flushing Methodist Chapel were saved, together with the pulpit, Sunday School furniture, the chapel safe and its lovely organ all arrived at the museum a few years ago.

Mining and Methodism are closely entwined in Cornwall and thus our collection has continued to grow. More Sunday School banners have arrived together with books, records, music and Sunday School furniture and memorials. Feock Chapel recently closed and its chest safe and a superintendents desk with lots of inner graffiti arrived in September 2022. Banners and books from long closed Peranwell arrived during the summer of 2022. Christmas 2021 saw the arrival of two marching banners and photographs donated by the late Mrs Stella Roule of Paynters Lane End Chapel. In 2023 another marching banner came into our care from Devoran Wesleyan Chapel. A Grade ll* listed pipe organ by George Hele dating from 1864 and built in Truro was added to our unique organ collection together with a number of smaller objects from the sadly closed chapel.

The Trevithick Society was given the remaining contents of the Wayside Folk Museum Collection Zennor and this vast collection has be loaned to us on a permanent basis. Colonel Freddie Hirst founded the museum in 1930. Some of the objects large & small are rare or unique survivors and have greatly enriched the Cornish National Heritage Collection.

There are many special objects in the combined collections from Beam Engines to Count House spoons, mines from all over Cornwall are included, we mention just a few here but there are many more!

TING TANG MINE BELL 1844 One of the more famous items is perhaps the mighty 180 year old Ting Tang Mine bell which is a unique survivor cast in 1844 at the historic Perran Foundry using Cornish tin & Cornish copper. It’s the only named mine bell in existence today, its name, date and foundry name are cast into the bell. It weighs 2cwt or 106 kilos. We loaned it to the BBC TV Poldark to be used as a prop on the cliffs at Botallack during the most recent Poldark series.

Purser Boyns pewter tea pot Made of Cornish tin [92%] in Sheffield and engraved, this was presented by John Roscorla to the mine purser of Wheal Owles in 1869.

The Patented Traversing Winding Engine 1895 This is detailed elsewhere on these pages, the unique prototype engine on display went to Paris in 1900 and was seen by millions of people. It won a gold medal for Holman Bros, the winder is in the gardens and the gold medal is in the museum. Apart from a year in Paris, the winding engine has been in museums for its entire life, 40 years here and 80 at the Holman Museum.

REDRUTH TOWN CLOCK BELL 1771 The famous Redruth Town Clock Tower was originally a wooden structure erected in 1771. It was rebuilt in stone but later had an upper story added in 1903 when a new clock mechanism was installed. The old turret clock went to St Day until just after WW2.

The original 1771 bell [together with the 1771 turret clock mechanism and the later 1903 Turret Clock mechanism] were all given to the Holman Bros Museum in Camborne. These three objects came here in 1979. The large bell has the 1771 date in its casting and hangs above the mine on our wooden headgear. It is regularly sounded when each tour commences. The Turret Clocks are in the museum. The 1771 clock is engraved with the suppliers name being Mr R Bennett of Helston. The 1904 mechanism carries a brass plate with the suppliers name being Beringer & Schwerer of Redruth. The bell and original clock mechanism are over 250 years old. The bell was solemnly tolled 96 times on the day of HM the Queens funeral.

THE HOLMAN MUSEUM in CAMBORNE Way back in 1979 the world famous Holman Bros of Camborne Museum was gifted to the Cornish National Heritage Collection for the princely sum of one pound! Sadly some duplicate items were sold off during the bleak & black years from 1999 to 2013, However since then many other items have been found, restored and are now on display once again along with the core collection from the Holman Museum which had been running for well over 100 years. The museum was founded by the late Treve Holman OBE (c1893-1959), whose ancestors had founded the firm in 1801.

The extended small items museum in the egg packing station In late 2014 the relocated museum & ticket office was opened in part of the former egg packing & refrigerated warehouse built in 1948. This large industrial building is around 40 foot wide and 150 feet long. Having started off with a smaller space, this has been expanded in each of the years since the rescue and a new entrance hallway was created for the 2017 season. There were plans for more changes during the 2021 season and a new display area has been added by the mine entrance a further display area is being planned for other disused buildings too. We hope to have opened this new exhibition space by the summer of 2023.

Shop fittings and 18 smart museum cabinets arrived in June 2017. The shop fittings came from the Elgar Birthplace Museum in Worcestershire which were generously donated to us by the National Trust. A number of professional museum cabinets were donated by the National Museum of Wales, other cabinets arrived in 2015 from The Tank Museum. The Luton museum donated two exhibitions and many cabinets in 2017 some of which are in storage ready for the expansion of the present museum. More recently an elegant cabinet was donated by the Trinity College Library of Cambridge University and no less than 14 large historic cabinets from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London which may have been made for the 1851 Great Exhibition. The V&A donated several large modern cabinets too and, not to be outdone, the Science Museum in London donated a rather splendid architect designed circular reception desk from their main entrance hall.

New exhibits & many smaller artefacts were added during the 2019 season. Several mining trucks, two battery electric mine locomotives, waterwheels, tools, tin stamps, lathes and other items arrived during 2019. Another pipe organ was donated by a thoughtful property developer [Mr Kevin Oliver] who did not want to see it burned and destroyed. Its a very fine fully working instrument dated 1895 from St Keverne Methodist Chapel which is now closed. It was taken down in July 2019 and is in storage at the museum.

An old pre 1907 Canadian made harmonium [Bell Organ & Piano Co] arrived from nearby Wheal Buller Chapel in January 2020 having been restored by one of our regular volunteers Mr Edwin Thomas, its in the museum alongside a more modern electric Hammond given to us two years ago by Graham. We have a few visiting performers on the organs in the museum but we also welcome those visitors who wish to play, just ask at the ticket office.

WAYSIDE FOLK MUSEUM at ZENNOR

The Trevithick Society has many items in their collection which are now gradually being displayed in the New Vestibule by the mine entrance in time for the 2023 season here at the Cornish Heritage Collection. Other items are stored here. Many of the interesting objects newly on display for 2023 came from the Wayside Folk Museum at Zennor which closed a few years ago and was very much loved by its visitors down the last 90 odd years. Opened in the 1930s it was the first folk & mining museum in Cornwall. Its cast iron 18 feet diameter iconic water wheel arrived during the summer of 2020, we discovered an old wheel pit by our mill and its being restored for this very wheel which came from Wheal Concord Tin Mine near Blackwater which opened in the 1790s, the wheel may date from that period, it closed in the 1860s and was revived for a time in the 1980s until the slump of tin prices in 1985.

The artefacts include many mining tools, mine waggons and equipment from all over Cornwall. One of the most poignant displays is perhaps the collection of Pit Pony leather blinkers, headpieces and protective leather hoof boots from Levant Mine which was one of the two mines in all Cornwall where ponies were used underground. The collection contains tools & items from a wide variety of mines such as South Crofty, Levant, Dolcoath, Geevor, mines in the Zennor area and elsewhere. Other items include cooperage, domestic life, blacksmiths and general industry such as the St Ives Wheelwrights workshops. A rather pleasing item from Levant Mine Assay Office arrived in February 2020. It was made in 1896 and is a perfectly working blacksmiths forge in miniature that was used to test samples of tin.

BUILDING DEMOLITION & RESTORATION OF THE GARDENS

In 2015 some old buildings by the present entrance were removed. October 2017 saw the commencement of the demolition of the rotting concrete Trenear Dairy office building that was concealing the Victorian fronted water Mill. The foundations of The Mill, water wheel pit and mill race or leat, all date from the 13th century when Cistercian Monks created the waterways and the first water-powered Tin Stamping Mill in the world.

The building was altered and re-built and used as the Trenear Dairy from circa 1886 to 1972.

The historic double gabled three storey period building has yet to be restored but is emerging and creating a whole new ambience for the gardens. At long last the water wheel can be seen by visitors to the gardens. More work is in progress and restoration of the Victorian building commenced in late July 2019 and is now looking much smarter, there is much more to do of course which has been delayed due to our temporary closure.

THE DARK YEARS - 2000 to 2013

Following a 14 year run down culminating in closure at the end of September 2013, bankruptcy arrived.

There had been little or no investment during those 14 years, many of the historic machines and collections for which the museum was renowned were sold off. Some of this was plain asset stripping, fortunately some items went to good homes, but many should never have been sold having been gifted. All of this stopped when the museum was saved in May 2014. Some items have since been recovered by purchase. A number of precious historic items were found dumped in various sheds, some lying in pools of water, many of these are now on display and some are restored.

The largest item recovered was the steam railway locomotive in the car park which had suffered the indignity of being sold off on E-Bay - having been gifted to the museum by Falmouth Docks & Engineering Company, this was bad news. Fortunately the locomotive was was returned to the museum at the end of the 2014 season. Hopefully other objects will be returned or bought back as and when when funds allow.

At the 11th hour, the mine & the Cornish Heritage Collection were rescued from developers in early May 2014. Work immediately commenced to repair the mine which had been closed and flooded. This was under the guidance of a new Custodian bringing a considerable heritage & mining related experience together with a determination to bring the Poldark Mine Demesne & its historic collection back into good order. One aim is to restore & recover the machinery saved by Peter and Jose Young. The late Peter Young was delighted to learn of this 11th hour renaissance and his daughters Lindsay and Carol continue to be supportive to this day.

NEW COLLECTIONS

Many historic items, a telecoms,teleprinter and telephone collection, many oak and pitch pine doors, the pulpit & some pews, not to mention a huge pipe organ from a now demolished Methodist chapel at the famous Penny Lane in Liverpool, all arrived with the new custodian. Some are now in use or on display in the ever expanding museum. Things that shaped our world such as tin-plate, telegraphy, telephony & telecoms all rely on tin & copper which is why a new Techno Tin & Copper section is evident.

KING OF INSTRUMENTS & The Wesleyan Connection Collection This is an entirely new and extensive collection of small and large objects. This includes no less than six full size pipe organs [all by different builders]. Generally regarded as the King of Instruments three of our KINGS are in storage and three can be seen in the museum. One of these is in working order, the larger of this pair was built in Truro as a memorial to the fallen of the nearby village of Treverva in the Great War, the other is from the fishing village of Flushing which arrived along with the contents of the 1805 Sunday School and many things such as the pulpit.

Another is from closer to home being from Burras - first installed in Wendron Church near the mine in 1831. In 2018 the Gothic cased pipe organ from the little village of Godolphin had to be speedily rescued, it duly arrived and is almost reassembled. In July 2019 the rather fine organ from St Keverne Methodist Chapel on the Lizard was donated to the museum , it was built by Wadsworth & Brothers of Manchester in 1895. Apart from the mining, farming & fishing community connections, organ pipes contain up to 60% tin in their alloy. One organ is already in working order and may be played upon request, some of our organ volunteers pop in and play from time to time.

Many other large & small objects from a variety of Methodist Chapels & Sunday Schools such as; Flushing, Falmouth, Treverva, Hale, and other places, are already on display and the exhibition explains how the Wesley brothers ministry had such a profound influence on the lives of Cornish Miners, farmers and fishermen.

The lovely gardens are being restored, a large bandstand was added in 2015, and 8 concerts and two plays were performed in the gardens during 2016. Brass Band concerts continued in 2017 and 2018. In 2019 the concerts are on Saturday afternoons and feature the Junior Band from Carharrack & St Day Silver band which has a long mining connected history. We endeavour to encourage the young people who play in this band as much as we can, their conductor is Samuel Constable who is a very talented young man working under the guidance of their enthusiastic musical director Roy Trelease who has been with the band for over 50 years. Linda, Roys wife, is the percussionist.

Much of the Poldark Demesne is starting to look as it used to do but with an educational theme at the forefront of all that we do.

The old museum was closed in 2013 having been literally ransacked & stripped by the departing owners who took or sold off many items donated to the museum. Thankfully the core of the collection remained in various places and a number of items were found dumped in sheds which are now back in their rightful places, some have yet to be restored.

The lower part of the grounds by the present entrance to the mine was acquired by Peter Young in 1966 & opened to the public as Wendron Forge on June 1st 1971. With great foresight Peter collected steam engines, which at the time were being sold for scrap metal, and installed them in various locations. The mine was discovered in 1973, a new access passageway was driven at a cost of £75,000 and with a team of volunteers the mine passageways and stopes were cleared ready for public opening in 1974 It was first opened to the public as Wheal Roots Mine. The BBC television cameras arrived to film the very first Poldark series which was first broadcast in 1975 and 1976, there were 29 episodes. Scenes from the BBC period costume drama Penmarric were filmed at the mine during 1977.

Wendron Forge & Wheal Roots mine was renamed Half Penny or Hapenny Park for a time. The BBC cameras returned in 1976 for the second series of the Poldark Television drama broadcast in 1977. The author Winston Graham renamed the mine as Poldark Mine in 1976 due to his friendship with the founder and due to global public interest. Some of Winston Grahams books were launched at the mine including his final Poldark work, Bella Poldark in 2002.

Poldark Mine grew into one of the major places to visit in Cornwall being one of the first industrial heritage museums in the UK. By the end of the 1980s Peter decided to retire and John McLeod took over having worked with Peter for some years. John drove a new passageway from the lowest part of the mine enabling a circular adventure trip for visitors. This was at great expense.

We raise about 25 million gallons of water out of the mine each year - thats about 35,000 to 40,000 gallons (160,000 to 180,000 litres) each and every day. The output of water raised from below 4 Level is at present being automatically pumped into the upper pond and can be seen flowing over a waterfall from time to time, usually at intervals of about 6 to 10 minutes. This enables us to know at a glance that the mine pumps deep underground are working properly. A second location for sighting pumped mine water is by the mine entrance and this flows directly into the lower leat. The water here comes from the upper adit on 2 Level. We can switch the flow from one to the other if required.

Poldark Mine is the only Cornish Mine open to the public being pumped today - it`s the very last of thousands that once operated. The mine is electrically lit throughout.

The workings are force ventilated 24 hours a day all year around by a large electric fan.

All of this power being used makes for an impressive annual electricity bill of over £35,000! One day, we hope to get our 1904 water wheel into operation with a turbine alongside to generate our own power in order to reduce the enormous costs of keeping this unique Tin Mine open to the public.

The mine is a Regionally Important Geological/Geomorphological Site [RIGS] No K31. The main shaft [seen on the deep mine tour] is the location of a rare and remarkable Carbona Mass which was mined out many years ago A carbona mass is found in stanniferous* rock, irregular in form, and not possessing the general character of a lode. [*Containing or producing tin metal.]

GEOLOGY OF WHEAL ROOTS WORKINGS at Poldark Mine - Copy & Paste the following link to open the geology study by the late Dr Nick Le Boutillier

Poldark Mine Geology

The late Peter Brigham Young was the founder of this museum. Peter sadly died in July 2014 at the age of 89, his two daughters Carol and Lindsay continue to keep in touch with us today.

Peter founded the Cornish Heritage Collection and open air museum in 1966 which was opened to the public on June 1st 1971. He was also the man who discovered Hwel Roots or Wheal Roots Mine which he opened to the public in 1974 as Wheal Roots Tin Mine. This enabled many millions of visitors to have the opportunity to go underground to safely explore an ancient Tin Mine in Cornwall and to experience a visit to the historic grounds that have circa 4000 years of tin working history.

The BBC television cameras arrived here for the first broadcast which was aired on TV in 1975. The cameras came again in 1977 to film the second original BBC TV Poldark Series. This enabled many millions of people all over the world to see the famous little tin mine on television. Another BBC TV production was the Penmarric Drama also broadcast in 1977.

The BBC used the mine once again for the new 2015 series by Mammoth Productions that commenced in 2014, the cameras arriving here in June of that year. Various tools and two of of the bells from the museum were used as props, one dating from 1844 being the unique Tin Tang mine bell. Countless millions have seen the popular modern BBC series all over the globe with Aidan Turner playing the part of Ross Poldark.

Author Winston Graham became good friends with Peter and Hwel Roots mine was re-named Poldark Mine by Mr Graham in 1975, he became a regular visitor for over 30 years. The author launched a number of his books here, including his final work, Bella Poldark in 2002.

No other mining museum in Cornwall can offer such an educational underground adventure on three or four levels of historic passageways, through shafts and caverns of the 18th century parts of the workings. The mine has far earlier mediaeval and some pre-Roman origins not shown to visitors.

The pleasant gardens of today were created by the Youngs from a virtual swamp. The grounds had been formerly used as tin dressing floors and a tin stamping mill using the power of water wheels from the 13th Century to Victorian times when Cistercian Monks from St Marys Abbey at Rewley in Oxford created the extensive waterways and ponds that remain to this day. This is the earliest known and recorded location of a water powered tin mill in the world. The tin stamping mill survived until circa 1880 when the Trenear Dairy Company took over the tin mill and waterways. The water power was utilised to run the creamery, Cornish Clotted Cream and Cornish Bard Butter were produced here until 1972.

The granite in the Wendron area is 290 million years old being some 20 million years earlier than all of the other granite in the Duchy and known as the Carnmenellis Pluton. Regarded by many historians as the veritable cradle of Cornish Tin production, the grounds are also the location of a unique Bronze Age Scheduled Ancient Monument to pre-historic Tinners.

The riverside fields that are now the car park, included the Trenear Mortar Outcrop, were purchased by Peter in 1970. The outcrop was eventually listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument by English Heritage in 2009. The living rock outcrop is the only known example of an early hand tin-crushing site in the entire South West of England and dates from around 2000 BCE, and so its use for tin working commenced around 4,00 years ago.

The Outcrop and the ancient workings of Wheal Roots Tin Mine are set in a pleasant riverside garden Demesne in a peaceful wooded glen below Porkellis Moor which is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest [SSSI] due its biodiversity some of which migrates to the woodlands at the mine. Poldark Mine [Wheal Roots], Gardens & The Cornish Heritage Collection Museum are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Inscription.

The mine, its Scheduled Ancient Monument and the Industrial Heritage Museum would not be here today only for Peter and his wonderful collection of unique machinery. The machinery includes the very last beam engine in commercial service in Cornwall which ceased working in December 1959 and a host of other treasures from the Holman Bros Museum which Peter obtained for the princely sum of just £1 in 1979- [part of the arrangement was that he also had to purchase the museum building for a rather larger sum!].

Peter was delighted to know that the Little piece of heaven on the B3297 [his own words] which he and his wife had created was being rescued. Just a few weeks before he passed away he telephoned our present Custodian and chatted amiably for the best part of two hours, which was remarkable as he was quite ill at the time. The Custodian and restoration team were very privileged to have had his support and encouragement and we were all saddened by the news of his passing so soon after the mine was re-opened in 2014.

He was exceptionally pleased to know that the 1919 steam railway locomotive from Falmouth Docks had been located & was to be returned to the mine. Peter had originally rescued this 26-ton Peckett of Bristol engine in 1986. It arrived back home in October 2014. Now our challenge is to restore it to working order and we are intending to name it Peter in his memory.

Clearly a remarkable man who did much to save a unique part of Cornish mining & industrial heritage. He created a wonderful educational place for visitors and provided much needed employment in this area. His dedication saved many historic things that would otherwise have been lost including the very last beam engine to work commercially in Cornwall. This can be seen in the gardens having been taken down and moved here by Peter and his wonderful team of volunteers in 1972 at enormous personal expense and considerable risk.

A casket containing some of Peters ashes was brought to the mine by his daughter Carol. These will eventually be placed within the mine in a suitable place.

Sadly in January 2017 Mrs Jose Young passed away after a short illness. She was in her 90th year. Our condolences are extended to the Young family for the loss of two wonderful people.

It is a great privilege to be able to walk in their footsteps and to have the continued support of their family today.

Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice

POLDARK MINE & DEMESNE

The Trenear Mortar Outcrop was used for Tin production during the late Bronze Age. This groundfast stone offers unique evidence of tin production from the rich alluvial deposits of the River Cober and is situated outside the museum entrance. The Mortar Outcrop was the scene of tin production in prehistory. Of national importance the Outcrop is designated by the Secretary of State as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The official record of the listing contains the following information:-

The mortar outcrop at Trenear, 9 metres north east of Poldark Mine entrance is the only known example of an early hand tin-crushing site in the South West of England. The outcrop survives very well because it has until relatively recently been protected by a layer of soil, which may also preserve rich environmental and archaeological information; particularly in the area adjacent to the southern edge of the rock.

Details

The monument includes a large earthfast slab of granite with at least 17 circular or oval shaped hollows, here argued to have been ore-grinding mortars, worn into its upper face. The site lies within the UNESCO Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Inscription, site No. 17.

The mortar outcrop is situated on the northern edge of the floodplain associated with the River Cober. The hollows are similar to those found on mortar stones associated with tin stamping mills, but their disposition precludes mechanical formation. The hollows vary considerably in size and depth with the largest one being 22cm [8.6 inches] long by 20cm [7.8 inches] wide and 10cm [3.9 inches] deep. The interior of all the hollows are worn smooth as a result of the crushing process. The hollows are all situated along the southern part of the outcrop and were formed by hand crushing of tin ore from the nearby alluvial streamwork.

Hand crushing of ore is considered to have been carried out in Cornwall before stamping machinery was introduced during the medieval period. Using field evidence alone the precise dating of this tin ore crushing site is not possible. It would, however, fit most comfortably into the later prehistoric period when particularly rich ore recovered from the adjacent streamwork could have been economically crushed by hand.

WATER POWER

1284 .... The monks at the Cistercian Abbey of St Mary at Rewley in Oxford were given the advowson of St Wendron church & its chapels with its Great Tithes and glebe lands which was confirmed by way of a Royal Inspeximus on the 12th of September 1284 by Edmund, the second Earl of Cornwall - Edmund was the son of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall and grandson of King John. Before this St Wendrona Church had belonged to his Manor of Helston which included the whole parish. The ancient Wendron village church is on a hill overlooking the mine at Trenere Wolas,(Lower Trenere} the Trenear of today. Its tower can be clearly seen from the tea garden at the mine and the ancient bells of the church ring out for all to hear.

1354 .... Edward the Black Prince [1330 - 1376] added the advowson of lands at Stithians and its church and this was approved by the bishop in 1354. A record of tithes relating to the use of the waterwheels exists in Wendron parish records.

The monks created and probably operated the tin stamps in the late 13th century into the early 1400s - Cistercians from the mother Abbey* in France were renowned metal workers and hydraulic experts from early times. An ancient system of waterways and water wheels exists in a Cistercian Abbey in Spain. *Cîteaux Abbey in France is the mother abbey and was founded on Saint Benedicts Day, 21 March 1098 Wikipedia tells us: The Cistercian order was quite innovative in developing techniques of hydraulic engineering for monasteries established in remote valleys. In Spain, one of the earliest surviving Cistercian houses, the Real Monasterio de Nuestra Senora de Rueda in Aragon, is a good example of such early hydraulic engineering, using a large waterwheel for power and an elaborate water circulation system for central heating. Much of this practicality in Cistercian architecture, and indeed in the construction itself, was made possible by the orders own technological inventiveness. The Cistercians are known to have been skilled metallurgists, and as the historian Alain Erlande-Brandenburg writes: The quality of Cistercian architecture from the 1120s onwards is related directly to the Orders technological inventiveness. They placed importance on metal, both the extraction of the ore and its subsequent processing. At the abbey of Fontenay the forge is not outside, as one might expect, but inside the monastic enclosure: metalworking was thus part of the activity of the monks and not of the lay brothers. … It is probable that this experiment spread rapidly; Gothic architecture cannot be understood otherwise.

The waterways remain to this day, the tail race ponds, leats & tin dressing floors now form part of our pleasant gardens.

Tin working continued at Trenear Wolas for hundreds of years. In 1493, during the Tudor era, a lease renewal to a Mr John Trerys was recorded in the Royal Rolls, making Trenere Wolas [lower Trenear] the location of the first recorded mechanical water-powered tin stamps in the world. The tin stamps dressed ores mined or recovered from alluvial deposits for centuries. The rent recorded in 1493 was 3s 4d per annum. The rent remained the same in 1649.

.. In 1864, the two Wendron Consols mines sold 117 tons of black tin for just over £7,000. [copper was also produced from one of the mines] At that time there was a workforce of 184 men, 61 women and 50 boys. All the women and younger children were employed above ground in dressing & sorting the tin ores in what are the mine gardens of today. The dressing floors & tin mill continued in operation until 1886. There were at least two, perhaps as many as 4, water wheels in use with 24 heads of stamps.

The water powered tin mill became Trenear Dairy and used the remaining water wheel to produce and process milk, clotted cream and Cornish Bard Butter. There was also an egg packing station which was in the building we use today as our museum, shop & ticket office. The dairy continued until 1972.

The very last engine that worked commercially in Cornwall.

Built by Harveys of Hayle around 1846 this engine was first supplied to the Bunney Tin Mine, near St Austell. Part of the ruined engine house remains may be found today.

It has a 30 inch diameter cast iron cylinder with an 8 foot stroke. The beam weighs 12 tons.

The engine was moved to Greensplat near St Austell in 1894 at a cost of £65 at the time not a small sum then. It was rebuilt there by Nicholas Manhay of Pescovillet. A reverend gentleman had to be taken home in a wheelbarrow following the traditional celebrations at the time of its restart in 1897! The engine was handed over to Caleb Nichols the first Engine Man. Caleb trained an apprentice from Carclew - Arthur Hancock, he was the driver who finally shut off steam for the last time during Christmas Week 1959. It was the very last Cornish Engine to be in commercial use south of the Tamar. Thus marking its unique place in Cornish mining history by some 5 years, all other engines in Cornwall had ceased service by 1955.

The building was eventually listed but the engine was acquired by Peter Young in 1972, in a partly vandalised condition. Peter and his team of volunteers moved it at considerable effort and enormous cost over the winter of 1972/73. It was re-erected at Wendron Forge, Trenear, which is the Poldark Mine of today. It has been running here since that date for most of the last 48 years. Being in the open air the workings of the engine are exposed for all to see, this appearance makes the engine look most odd, naked of its cladding and other fittings. The museum holds several steam & other gauges that belonged to the engine and the unique hand made Enginemans throne-like chair used by Caleb Nichols and Arthur Hancock is in the museum.

The listed (1974) Engine House remained in situ perched on the edge of the vast open cast pit workings for some years. It was delisted by English Heritage in 2000 so that it could be knocked down!! It was demolished by bulldozers in 2002, disgracefully nothing was saved. It could have been saved as Peter was willing to move the entire engine house to Trenear but the council would not allow it! So Cornwalls very last commercially working engine house was wantonly and knowingly destroyed. The engine house stood close to the village chapel & Sunday school. Sadly, nothing remains on the location today as the entire village of Greensplat was removed and the hills were mined away for China Clay. The hedge lined road to the former village ends abruptly some distance away from what is now a vast hole in the ground. Some villagers have been in touch in recent times, and we were presented with a chapel hymn book and some photos by a villager.

This is the record at English Heritage:
Description: Greensplat Engine House
Grade: DL
Date Listed: 11 March 1974
Date Delisted: 18 January 2000
English Heritage Building ID: 396626
OS Grid Reference: SW9968455418
OS Grid Coordinates: 199684, 55418
Latitude/Longitude: 50.3645, -4.8179
Location: Greensplat Road, Treverbyn, Cornwall PL26 8XY
Locality: Treverbyn
County: Cornwall
Country: England
Postcode: PL26 8XY

The following building was de-listed on 18th January 2000
TRENANCE DOWNS
1584A
Greensplat
Engine House
SW 95 NE 5/573

Engine house complete with engine, not now in use. Stone rubble, one end cement rendered. Adjoining chimney with white brick upper stage. 30 inch Cornish Beam pumping engine, the last to be in use in Cornwall. Listing NGR: SW9968455418

The Cornish National Heritage Collection

Many items from mining rail waggons & machinery to rock & mineral specimens in the museum and outdoors are from mines all over Cornwall.

The extensive group of objects have come together as the Cornish National Heritage Collection due to their diversity and encompass much of the historic contents of several museum & private collections. The Wheal Roots Industrial Machinery Collection was started by our late founder in 1963, the mining & industrial heritage residual items from the Wayside Folk Museum of Zennor founded in 1930 by Col Fred Hirst & closed in 2015 are on permanent loan to us from the Trevithick Society, the Holman Bros Museum of Camborne founded by the late Treve Holman closed in 1979, the late Kenneth England Collection of curious household objects came to the museum in the 1970s when he became curator. In 2014 the considerable telecommunications equipment collection of our custodian was incorporated.

The Methodist Connexion Collection has grown during the last seven years and includes seven pipe organs of which six are from Cornish chapels together with the contents and examples of furniture of many chapels exploring & explaining the unique links with Methodism, mining, farming and fishing that have existed for many generations. The original seats and furniture from an 1815 Sunday School are here. Three organs are in the museum. Three more are stored here and another in a place nearby. Two organs were previously at other locations. The organs represent the people who lived and died in the villages of Flushing, Treverva, Godolphin & Crowntown, St Keverne, Devoran, Burras & Wendron, our largest instrument was from Liverpool. We have six marching banners from various chapels and many examples of monogrammed chapel crockery. The organ from Treverva was built in Truro and is a War Memorial for those young men of the village who gave their lives in the 1914-1918 War.

Cornwall has produced tin from the Scheduled Ancient Monument in our grounds since the Bronze Age, tin was mechanically processed here using waterwheel power from the 13th century until 1875, a remarkable achievement. Tin copper, iron, China clay and many other minerals were extensively mined in the surrounding Wendron Mining District and throughout the county in ancient times, its metals created the modern world. It continues to mine China Clay and other mining is opening up once again.

Mines such as Dolcoath, South Crofty, Wheal Jane, Wheal Concord, Geevor, Treamble, Greensplatt, Medlyn Moor, Polhigey, Poldice, Wheal Pendarves, Botallack, Wheal Sparnon, Pentire Glaze, Ting Tang, Wheal Drea, Wheal Kitty, Wheal Owles, Levant, West Wheal Basset, Basset & Grylls and others are all well represented in the museum. Several machines & many smaller artefacts are from Devon and other places throughout the UK but are typical of machines used in Cornish Mines and other industry.

Items from other mines in Wales such as Clogau Gold Mine*, Gwynfyndd Gold Mine, and Kellingley Colliery in Yorkshire [where all of our lamp room equipment is from] are included in the collections. *Our late Queen, the late Queen Mother and other members of the Royal Family used gold from Clogau Mine to fashion their wedding rings.

The Holman Bros Camborne Museum collection encompasses boilers & pneumatic mining equipment and a host of other objects from Turret clocks to a huge tooth from a Woolly Mammoth which roamed this part of Cornwall [St Day] many thousands of years ago.

There are hundreds of original wooden casting patterns from the Holman Foundry which were recently discovered in an attic here. These were used to manufacture all sorts of items from cast iron using a special type of sand in moulds. A rather unusual item cast in the Holman Foundry is a full size spare cylinder from Richard Trevithicks 1801 road engine, the Puffing Devil.

Apart from the 1846 Harvey of Hayle [Cornish cycle] Beam Engine which is the largest object, the most intricate machines are the six pipe organs fashioned from wood & metal pipes which contain a high percentage of Cornish tin. The heaviest machine is the 1919 steam railway locomotive from Falmouth Docks at 26 tons.

WHATS NEW for 2024?

We have been adding many more objects to the Cornish Heritage Collection since the winter months of 2019 to 2023 as we endeavour to prepare for a possible reopening during the 2024 season and our Golden Jubilee+2- we are aiming for late May if things go to plan.

The New Vestibule is a spacious indoor display & educational waiting area which was created beside the mine Lamp Room during the 2019-2020 winter closure. It is now a much extended part of the Sunday School & Chapel exhibition area. The exhibition panels about global Cornish migration are displayed here together with historic mine waggons & other larger objects.

THE WAYSIDE FOLK MUSEUM OF ZENNOR

The Wayside Folk Museum at Zennor sadly closed in 2015 after 85 years having been founded by avid collector & archaeologist Colonel Freddie Hirst in 1930. Much of his wonderful collection was dispersed and sold but thankfully to some good new homes.

However, many artefacts of a mining & Industrial heritage nature including some narrow gauge railway trucks were presented to the Trevithick Society and are now on long term loan to us. Gradually these fascinating objects are going back on public display here at the Cornish Heritage Collection including the Wheal Concord Mine water wheel that stood by the entrance in Zennor for so many years, many other Cornish Mining treasures are now in our care such as the unique & poignant pit pony tack from Levant Mine which closed in 1929 and was one of three mines in Cornish mines where pit ponies were used.

Mines local to Redruth, Camborne & Pool such as Dolcoath, South Crofty and others are included but Levant, Botallack, Geevor, Zennor and others on the Atlantic coast are well represented too. More of the objects that were sold have also arrived here thanks to the generosity of Joe Gray of Shiver me Timbers Reclamation near Penzance who wanted to ensure that historic Cornish items were saved.

THE HOLMAN BROTHERS MUSEUM CAMBORNE

In 1979 the extensive Holman Museum Collection was transferred here except for a few items which went to the Royal Cornwall Museum. The Holman Collection remains the core of the Cornish Heritage Collection on display here at Poldark Mine.

The collection includes a great number of rock drills, winches, many scale models and other early pieces made by Holman engineers and apprentices. These include a 1920 model of an anvil, a 1975 model of I K Brunels Rotherhithe Tunnel pressurised construction tube, a section of a Man Engine, a mine skip, several steam engines and other models of various devices. There is a 1926 sectioned compressor, a 1935 sectioned water pump and a sectioned Silver Bullet rock drill which won a silver medal in 1951. The prototype one sixth scale traversing winder was made in 1895 won a Gold Medal in 1900.

There are several wooden teaching models from the various Schools of Mines which existed prior to 1910, tin stamps and Richard Trevithicks water engine for example. The famous 1844 Ting Tang Mine bell, the 1771 Redruth Town Clock bell, the 1771 turret clock from the original Redruth wooden ⏰ Tower, the 1836 clock face from Pendarves House, the mid 1700s Fire Pump from Lelant, the 1904 Redruth Town Clock German-made mechanism, the 1869 Wheal Owles teapot and tin candlesticks, Count House cutlery and works plates all came from the Holman Collection.

The oldest item is the molar of a Woolly Mammoth found at St Day. This is circa 100,000 years old and was discovered when Holman Bros needed spoil for a new building.

The Holman Brothers Museum was largely created by the late Treve Holman who gathered hundreds of items over many years. Some items were sold by the former owners during the dark years of 2000 to 2013 including a number of surplus rock drills to a private collector and a number of these items may be viewed at nearby King Edward Mine Museum including a large Holman Bros Winding Engine sold to the museum but now fortunately back in its original location.

VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM

In 2021 we were presented with 14 historic cabinets by the Victoria & Albert Museum. These had been in use in the Bethnal Green Museum which was opened in 1872 to house items from the Great Exhibition of 1851 & was part of the V&A. The cabinets probably date from the 1851 Exhiition. A new exhibition is planned for 2022 when much of our collection will be relocated to the former cafe & restaurant area in the grounds.


GEOLOGICAL COLLECTION

We have amassed a considerable geological collection that includes some magnificent specimens together with many smaller ones from around the world. Many are yet to be labelled and catalogued and hundreds of others are in reserve, there are several cabinets filled with interesting often spectacular and rare examples.

Machines in the gardens & Railway items

[1 & 2] POWERED AIR COMPRESSORS - The Billingham-on-Tees Compressors ...... They may not look to be of National importance but in fact they date from 1918 and have a history of some significance. We are intending to move this pair of historic machines into our compressor house as soon as funds are available.

The first is a massive electrically driven GEC 500v DC motor linked to a Belliss & Morcom two stage air compressor, the second but smaller steam driven set alongside is a Reader Steam Engine driving a Reavell Compressor [Reavell became part of Holman Bros].

Billingham-on-Tees was just a small village in 1917, when its Grange Farm was chosen to be the site of a large chemical works during the throes of the GREAT WAR of 1914 - 1918. On 22 March 1918, the Minister of Munitions approved the site to be developed as a factory to make ammonium nitrate. It was known as the Government Nitrogen Factory, it fixated atmospheric nitrogen.

The author Aldous Huxley visited the works which inspired his famous 1931 book Brave New World. Later The Alan Parsons Project would name their 1984 album Ammonia Avenue after the plant.

From 1929 the Bergius process was developed to hydrogenate carbon (coal) and make synthetic petrol, with production starting in 1935. This would be needed for aircraft in WW2. The Fischer Tropsch process was used by the Germans during the war to produce synthetic fuel from coal.

The Royal Air Force high-performance aircraft needed 100-octane fuel, which was only obtainable from hydrogenated fuels, such as that made at Billingham.

In WW2, top secret atomic research under the codename Tube Alloys took place at Billingham. Plastics were also made from 1934 which were used in the construction of aircraft cockpits. The plant also made explosives all derived from ammonia. A TRIGA nuclear reactor was developed on the site from 1971 to 1988.

The two compressors were given to the Museum during the early 1970s by ICI, nothing else of the factory survives from that era.

[3A] CORNISH HIGH PRESSURE STEAM BOILERS [3A & 3B] .... Boiler 3A is in a small shed. The large black painted riveted Cornish boiler was made by Holman Bros of Camborne in or around 1850 for Medlyn Moor Mine a mile or so up the valley from Poldark Mine and is a rare survivor of the high pressure boiler used for providing steam to Cornish Beam Engines and designed by Richard Trevithick - the only known hardware that remains from a mine in the extensive Wendron Mining District. An impressive engine house still stands on the sett about 500 yards south of the Porkellis to Carnkie road and can be reached by following the public footpath sign.

[3B] A second Holman made [?] unique boiler-cum-Air Raid Shelter 3B is on display close to the mine. This unusual item was presented to us by King Edward Mine Museum in December 2021, it is a massive twenty foot long tubular Cornish Boiler from South Crofty Mine probably built by Holman Brothers in the very early 1800s formed from small wrought iron riveted plates. During WW2 it was buried and converted into an air raid shelter and actually has a door at one end and two fresh air pipes at the other. Later it was used as a store for archived mine paper records.

[4] COOKS KITCHEN SHAFT The grate front door was made by Holman Bros in 1903 for another mine being Cooks Kitchen that became part of the famous South Crofty Mine. On permanent loan from the Trevithick Society.

[5] MINE SHAFT Traversing WINDING ENGINE for Deep Shafts. The Morganss Patent Traversing Winding Engine is in its own shed. It is unique. Built by Holman Bros in 1898 - it is a one-sixth scale prototype created to demonstrate the principles of the patent. It is definitely not a model. Although even Holmans described it as a model, a quick view of the full size machine will confirm to the viewer that it is in actual fact a prototype. It was sent to France in 1899 to be exhibited in Paris at the 1900 World Trade Fair. [Paris Exposition 1900] It won a gold medal and the Holman stand won a bronze medal. The pair of original 122 year old medals are on display in the museum on permanent loan from the Trevithick Society. [They are neither gold nor bronze but made of a plated base metal!]

The later full size version of the patented winding engine was at Williams Shaft in Camborne which was 3000 feet deep and brick lined. [This was the deepest mine shaft in the world at the time] and the steam powered winder was scrapped in 1926 when the mine closed. It weighed in at 120 tons and traversed 16 feet in either direction on railway lines as the single cable was being wound & unwound on the same drum. the use of a single cable for both cages meant that the drum size was greatly reduced and that the cages were balanced so that the winding engine only had to move the weight of the load in the ascending cage, the descending cage with men or materials would assist in reducing the effort required. Otherwise two massive drums with over 6000 feet of cable between them and far more steam power would have been needed. The derelict Engine House survives close to Brea village and can be explored.

The prototype engine is therefore globally unique as no other was ever built, it weighs several tons. It was on display in the Holman Brothers Museum in Camborne for most of its life and was often demonstrated for visitors.

In 1979 the extensive Holman Bros Museum collection was transferred from Camborne to this museum for a nominal sum of one pound - 122 years later it must be one of the longest periods that such a machine has been in a museum, apart from its trip to Paris in 1900.

The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world trade fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900 and despite being visited by an incredible 50 million people, was a great financial flop.

By way of contrast, at the same location, the Eiffel Tower was constructed as the entrance to the 1889 World Fair 11 years earlier and was a great financial success, it has since become a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognisable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower is still the tallest structure in Paris at over 1000 feet and is the most-visited paid monument in the world; 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015.

[6 & 7] WATER WORKS PUMPS Two belt-driven Tangye water pumps made by Tangye Ltd at their Cornwall Works in Birmingham in 1920 came from Menagissey Pumping Station (not Mevagissey!) a tiny hamlet near St Agnes, 10 miles away, and provided fresh water for the area for over 50 years. These have been at the museum since the late 1960s when Peter Young commenced collecting. They were the last non-electric pumps in service with South West Water, the larger pump has three 5 inch cylinders with a 7.5 inch stroke with geared reduction wheels. The oil engine that powered them was also by the same maker but was sold off during the Williams 1999- 2013 regime. We hope to get these two indoors very soon so that they can be restored and demonstrated by linking them to the waterwheel.

[8] Newton Abbot POWER HOUSE ENGINE - The massive 1920s (or earlier?) steam-powered triple expansion reciprocating high speed Belliss & Morcom engine was built in Birmingham as No 1 of a pair in Newton Abbot Power Station for the Torquay Tramway Service - it was attached to a 200 kw DC generator. Steam was provided using coal fired boilers supplied via a private GWR siding that led off a branch line railway from GWR Newton Abbot to Mortonhampstead, part of this line remains in situ. The generated electricity was connected to an open 500 Volt DC Switchboard constructed on huge slate panels. This machine was removed when the station was demolished and it was presented to Polldark Mine in the 1970s. Continuous DC (Direct Current) supplies were maintained from the mid twenties onward by Rotary Converters until the station was decommissioned. DC was used to supply the riverside DC pumps and some station auxiliaries. There were one or two feeders to local hotels relying on the DC supplies to power lift motors. These were ceased in the mid sixties. A large brass contemporary switch room EOT (Engine Order Telegraph) can be found in the museum and came from a power station in Northern Ireland. It is stamped No 1 and was made by Chadburns who were better known for EOT machines on ships bridges.

The Power Station at Newton Abbot was decommissioned in 1974 and the massive steam engine was presented to Peter Young for the Museum at Poldark Mine. Its not known for sure where the GEC made generator went, but we believe it to be at the Science Museum

HAYLE POWER STATION

This was demolished in relatively recent years but its control room survived until just a few years ago. We had hoped to rescue its control room but we only managed to save several of the station’s record books & paper records and a few objects that included the control desk chair supplied by English Electric in 1949.

Many identical Belliss & Morcom engines with GEC generators were used at a number of Cornish Mines and other Power Houses in Cornwall such as those at the Redruth & Camborne Tramway Power House where McDonalds is today, close to Poldark was the Polhigey Mine Powerhouse which had two identical sets in the 1930s. So the engine here in the grounds is representative of those times.

[9] GAS WORKS ENGINE Vertical Rotative Steam-powered water pump - By Joseph Evans & Co Wolverhampton Circa 1910 - pumped water or fluids at a gas works in Southern England. Known as a banjo pump - located by the lower pond.

[10] FALMOUTH DOCK & ENGINEERING COMPANY - Cameron Steel Plate shearing & rivet hole punching machine - by John Cameron & Co Manchester 1898 - donated by Falmouth Docks & Engineering Company

[11] ESSO STEAM DRIVEN PUMP - Esso Fawley Oil Refinery Asphalt pump - steam jacket pump by Stothert & Pitt of Bath linked by double helix gearing to a high speed two cylinder steam engine by Belliss & Morcom of Birmingham - not on general view but can be viewed on request.

[12] GAS WORKS STEAM PUMP - Vertical Steam Engine - By G Waller & Co of Stroud c 1890s - drove gasworks machinery at an unknown location - can be seen from picnic lawn but is in works yard

[13] STEAM PUMP - by J G Weir of Glasgow 1916 once supplied boiler feed water to a battery of 6 steam boilers at Elba Steel Works, Gowerton South Wales - can be seen from picnic lawn but is in works yard.

[13] HOLMAN Bros Steam or Air winch (at low level by mine entrance) - used at South Crofty Mine - Donated by the Holman Museum [this is the smaller of a pair at the mine - see No 14]

[14] MINE WINDING ENGINE Holman Bros portable two cylinder Steam or Air winch or winder (at high level above mine entrance) Circa 1900 used at South Crofty Tin Mine - donated by the Holman Museum - used for mine clearances in the 1970s and in the 1980s.

[15] RAILWAY STEAM LOCOMOTIVE Steam Locomotive by Orenstein & Koppel of Berlin 1912 - Three foot gauge 0-4-0 well tank - partly restored - in a shed in the works yard but can been seen by arrangement. This locomotive ended its days in Belgium as a War Repatriation item and was eventually sold by the Belgian Government and brought to the UK. Restoration work commenced at Keefes of Ross on Wye with the boiler and firebox repaired in Lancashire by Ian Riley. Its original cab and boiler cladding has been retained as patterns for replacements and can be seen ghostlike in the yard. Donated by Gregg & Gillian Ryan in 2016.

[17] FALMOUTH DOCKS RAILWAY STEAM LOCOMOTIVE - 103 years old this year! Standard gauge 0-4-0 saddle tank - built in 1919 by Peckett & Son Atlas Works Bristol for the Cooperative Irlam margarine factory by the Manchester Ship Canal - sold to Falmouth Docks during the 1950s (?) becoming a British Transport Commission asset No 1430 & was numbered as No 6 in their fleet of engines in the docks - donated to museum by Falmouth Docks and Engineering Company at Christmas in 1978. Suffered the indignity of being sold off in on EBay in 2006 but was happily recovered & returned to Cornwall and the Cornish Heritage Collection in 2015 thanks to the generosity of the trustees of the Chacewater Railway in Staffordshire and other assistance. Can be seen in car park and is in need of a complete restoration, its missing parts are in store. The regular driver of No 6 at Falmouth Docks sadly passed away some years ago but his son has kept in touch.

[18] Holman Tappet Rock Drill - Dating from 1882 - This is displayed in the open air and is outside the New Vestibule. This is the actual drill which won a world wide rock drilling competition in South Africa in 1911. It was cosmetically restored in 2022.

[19] Belt-driven stone crusher - Ransomes & Rapier Waterside Works, Ipswich. This is displayed outside the compressor house and can be seen from across the pond.

[R20. R21. R22. R24. R27. R28. R29. T30.] Except for No T30, these are all four wheeled narrow gauge railway mining waggons in the gardens on the surface and another is in the mine. Two [R20, R21] are red-painted wooden explosives waggons from Geevor Mine [18inch gauge] . The red painted rescue waggon [R22] with a wooden chassis mounted with an aluminium box is from South Crofty Mine where it was used to carry emergency equipment [22inch gauge], there is also a rather work worn South Crofty mine skip waggon [R24] in need of major restoration which was used to clear the mine during the 1970s and 1980s - this can be seen across the pond and the others are in the covered visitor waiting area. Nos.R27 & R28 are skip waggons from Zennor Wayside Museum from an unknown mine. No R29 is a flat four wheel rail waggon from Dolcoath Mine. No. T30 is a non rail 4 wheeled trolley from Dolcoath Mine Smithy.

[R25,R26] Battery Electric Mining Locomotives - with a Royal connection! - we have recently acquired historic two mining locomotives built by Wingrove & Rogers BEV of Liverpool. These are narrow gauge 4 wheel two foot gauge compact units with connecting rod coupled wheels. Works No. 3687 [R25] Clogau dates from 1948 and was used at St Davids gold mine at Clogau near Dolgellau in North Wales which is the mine that provided the gold for the Queen Mothers wedding ring in 1923 and all other Royal Weddings ever since.

[No. 3687 is identical to No Works No.5537 of 1956 which worked at Wheal Jane Cornwall and later at the Ffestiniog Railway Deviation Tunnel in North Wales. Its believed to be in private hands in Flintshire, we would be pleased to locate it.] Works No. G7179 of 1967 Gwynfyndd [R26] was from the eponymous gold mine in the same area but closer to Barmouth in North Wales. Both of these ancient gold mines closed some years ago. Repairs are needed to both of these locomotives.

[R31,R32,]We have a converted Hudson flat waggon [No R31] from Clogau Gold Mine and a skip waggon [No. R32] from Gwynfyndd Gold Mine that was used in the underground processing plant to hold slurry. Its odd looking plumbing connections remain.

RESERVE COLLECTION - Most are in storage at the mine & not presently on display with a few exceptions such as the collection of items from the Wendron Wheelwrights in Trenear Village, this collection includes an early morticing machine and is all together in a small room in the garden. There are other items in store such as, a pillar lathe, a wooden butter churn, a wooden fire pump, two small steam pumps for supplying water to boilers, a sectioned Holman air compressor, an air compressor, village water pump, two Wendron village petrol pumps, remains of at least two lathes, a variety of smaller items and parts of engines. A lathe & a large mortising machine from St Ives Wheelwrights is in the same display amongst other equipment from the closed Wayside Museum at Zennor.

THE BIG WHEEL The mighty 18 ton flywheel is from Bathford Paper Mill near Bath and can be seen from the lawns, it is 13 feet in diameter. Made by Wood Bros at Sowerby Bridge in Yorkshire in 1911, the mill used large amounts of China Clay from Cornwall. Various steam gauges from this engine are also in the collection.

DIESEL RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE [No. R33] A four wheel standard gauge railway diesel mechanical Planet locomotive by Hibberd & Co of Park Royal London dating from 1956 is at St Agnes and was from the Royal Dockyard at Devonport.

PIPE ORGAN COLLECTION & OBJECTS IN STORE

An extensive collection of railway items, old telephones, automatic telephone exchange equipment and power supply panels from the 1930s, a collection of National Telephone Company items from the late 1800s, telegraph, teleprinter and carrier telephone equipment is in storage at the mine, a 13 ton mobile telephone exchange is in storage in mid-Wales.

Three Methodist Chapel organs are in the museum. One from Flushing Methodist Church [Organ No 4] is in working order & can be played but is not yet tuned. The second larger Heard & Co of Truro instrument [Organ No 3] on display and is almost restored, dates from 1921 and is a WWI Memorial to the fallen heroes of Treverva Village near the museum, some of these young men were miners.

The third of these is a chamber pipe organ from Godolphin Methodist [Organ No 5] (previously from Crowntown Methodist) dating from 1862 by E & H Dicker of Exeter is now being reassembled in the museum as of spring 2022.

The next [Organ No 6] is from nearby St Keverne Methodist Church by Wadsworth of Manchester in 1895. This fine organ was due to be burned but was kindly donated to the museum in 2019 by Kevin Oliver.

The oldest pipe organ in the collection is 191 years of age and was built in Hackney, London in 1831 for Wendron Parish Church [Organ No 2] who replaced it some 50 years ago, so in effect its coming back to Wendron and has a strong connection with the Wendron mining & village community right through its heyday. Many a Wendron & Wheal Roots miner would have attended church for weddings, funerals, Christenings, Easter, Harvest and Christmas. The organ was donated by the trustees of nearby Burhos Methodist Chapel where it was used from 1963 until 2017.

In September 2023 we were presented with a fine pipe organ [organ No 7]that was not only built in Truro but also a Listed Grade ll* instrument by George Hele who later moved his works from Truro to Plymouth. This organ was his very first and was supplied to Devoran Wesleyan Chapel in 1864 and Mr Hele himself played the organ at the opening ceremony in 1864. Its size was increased in 1902 but otherwise remains original.

OTHER INSTRUMENTS

We have a smaller pedal-powered harmonium [Organ No 8] that dates from before 1907 and was made in Canada by the Bell Organ & Piano Company of Guelf in Ontario. Imported by the Redruth firm of Chandlers it was used at Wheal Buller Chapel which is just a few miles from the museum. Restored by volunteer Edwin Thomas in late 2019 and now on display next to an electric Hammond organ [Organ No 9] donated by local gentleman Graham Martin. Visitors are welcome to play any of our working organs, just ask at the ticket desk.

HOPE-JONES & RUSHWORTH & DREAPER PIPE ORGAN The largest of the instruments [Organ No1] is from Liverpool Heathfield Road, Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel at the famous Penny Lane. It has a direct connection with the one of the largest pipe organs in the world. There are around 1200 pipes many of which contain 60% tin. Its a rare tubular-pneumatic instrument with a remote console. Dating from the 1890s it was originally built with an electro pneumatic action by inventor Robert Hope-Jones who was connected with the National Telephone Company and later with the Wurlitzer Organ Company in the USA. Most of the bellows regulator weights have the name HOPE JONES cast into the iron. The instrument was rebuilt in 1950 by Rushworth & Dreaper of Liverpool without the electro-pneumatic action, most probably recovered from a church destroyed by enemy action during WW2.

Their old Organ Works at St Annes St Liverpool is now occupied by Henry Willis & Sons Ltd. This firm is one of the oldest and most famous organ building companies active in the world today, having been in continuous operation since 1845 and with an Opus list of over 2,500 organs up to the present day. From its own staff Henry Willis & Sons can draw on an enormous experience in the craft and the Companys Head Office premises in central Liverpool are equipped for organ-building on the grandest scale. The leading volunteer who guides the work needed on our organ collection is the Henry Willis representative for the South West. We are very fortunate to have his assistance.

The organ remains in store for now. We hope to commence its rebuilding in 2022.

Wikipedia tells us:-

Robert Hope-Jones (9 February 1859 – 13 September 1914) was an English musician, who is considered to be the inventor of the theatre organ in the early 20th century. He thought that a pipe organ should be able to imitate the instruments of an orchestra, and that the console should be detachable from the organ.

He was an inventor who first made tab stop keys {instead of the traditional draw stops} often now associated with Wurlitzer Organs. He devised a method for increasing the power of the human voice, through the application of a relay furnished with compressed air. The principle was later utilized in phonographs and other voice-producing machines. He also invented the diaphone, later used by the Canadian Government for its fog signal stations and, in a modified form, also adapted to the church organ

When fifteen he became voluntary organist and choir-master to the Birkenhead School Chapel. Two or three years later he simultaneously held a similar office at St Lukes Church, Tranmere, where he trained a boy choir that became widely celebrated. For this church he bought and set up a fine organ. He subsequently served as churchwarden and was active in many other church offices. He erected an organ in the Claughton Music Hall and organized and conducted oratorio performances in aid of various church funds, training a large voluntary chorus and orchestra for the purpose. For psalms, whose verses are arranged in groups of three, he wrote what he called triple chants, a form of composition later adopted by other church writers; he also composed canticles, kyries and other music for the services of the church.

He became choirmaster and honorary organist of St Johns Church, Birkenhead, doing similar work in connection with that institution. It was at this church and in connection with this organ that Hope-Jones did his first great work in connection with organ-building. The improved electric action, movable console and many other matters destined to startle the organ world, were devised and made by him there, after the days business and the evenings choir rehearsals. He had voluntary help from choirmen and boys, who worked far into the night, certain of these men and boys later occupying positions with the Hope-Jones Organ Company.

As a child, he was sickly and was privately tutored. He was sent to the South of France annually to improve his health. After his fathers death, when he was about fourteen, he attended Birkenhead School for a couple of years. After school, he was apprenticed to Lairds Shipbuilders in Birkenhead. After going through practical training in the various workshops and the drawing office, he then secured appointment as chief electrician of the Lancashire and Cheshire (afterwards the National) Telephone Company [NTC]. The NTC network was all over the UK and became part of the General Post Office in 1911.

In connection with telephony he invented a multitude of improvements, some of which were later in universal use. About this time he devised a method for increasing the power of the human voice, through the application of a relay furnished with compressed air. The principle was later utilized in phonographs and other voice-producing machines. He also invented the diaphone, later used by the Canadian Government for its fog signal stations and, in a modified form, also adapted to the church organ.

About 1889, he resigned from the National Telephone Company to devote himself to improving the church organ, a subject which had occupied much of his spare time for years. At first Hope-Jones licensed a score of organ-builders to carry out his inventions, but as this proved unsatisfactory, he entered the field as an organ-builder himself, being supported by Thomas Threlfall, chairman of the Royal Academy of Music; J. Martin White, Member of Parliament, and other friends. By 1890, Hope-Jones had set himself up in business to build electric organs.

When he became a rival and a competitor to those who had previously profited from his inventions, they became hostile and abusive. For nearly twenty years he met concerted opposition – attacks in turn against his electrical knowledge, musical taste, voicing ability, financial standing, and personal character. Several of his inventions were stolen from churches and several organs were sabotaged both in the UK and later in the USA.

Hope-Jones built more than 100 church organs in the United Kingdom before emigrating to the United States. In 1908 he built the organ at Ocean Grove Tabernacle, Ocean Grove New Jersey which is one of the largest in the world being No 16. Today the organ has 5 manuals, 282 ranks and 12,200 pipes. The auditorium had seating for 10,000 originally, today it seats 6250 in larger cinema style seats.

Ocean Grove was founded in 1869 as an outgrowth of the camp meeting movement in the United States, when a group of Methodist clergymen, led by William B. Osborn and Ellwood H. Stokes, formed the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to develop and operate a summer camp meeting site on the New Jersey seashore. By the early 20th century, the popular Christian meeting ground became known as the Queen of Religious Resorts. The communitys land is still owned by the camp meeting association and leased to individual homeowners and businesses.

Ocean Grove remains the longest-active camp meeting site in the United States. Hymn writer Fanny Crosby, band leader John Philip Sousa, and tenor Enrico Caruso have all featured in the auditorium. More recently, singers Tony Bennett, Mel Tormé, Kenny Rogers, and Ray Charles have performed.

The end of his life was sad and in 1914 at the age of only 55 he took his own life due to depression, since his death recognition of what he had invented and achieved has been noteworthy.

Among his innovations in the field of organ design were improvements to electro-pneumatic action and the invention of such stops as the Diaphone and the modern Tibia Clausa with its strong 8′ flute tone. The Tibia eventually became a staple of theatre organs. The thunderous 32′ Diaphone was less successful, but made an impression on audiences of the era. Hope-Jones organs were also noted for such innovations as stoptabs instead of drawknobs, and very high wind pressures of 10″–50″ to imitate orchestral instruments. He used expression liberally, sometimes enclosing the entire organ behind thick swell shades for great expressive power. He also used a system of unification which multiplied considerably the number of stops relative to the number of ranks.

He built 246 organs between 1887 and 1911 and his company employed 112 workers at its peak. [Information gathered from various sources including WIKEPEDIA]