Cornwall and West Devon’s UNESCO World Heritage SiteBy Emma Parkman, Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site Office

The designation was awarded due to the contribution the Cornwall and west Devon mining industry made to the industrial revolution and the fundamental influence it had on mining worldwide. The landscapes here were shaped by mining, the effects of which are still seen today; towns, ports and the wider countryside were transformed by the industry and inventions such as the Trevithick high pressure steam engine – the Cornish Engine - revolutionised the way mines worked and led to steam powered rail. Towns were expanded and transformed to house workers and new towns were built, a whole industry exploded and with it so did the population. Ports and transport links were built and many ancillary industries established to support the mining industry.

The Site’s designation not only protects the iconic engine houses but also mineworkers’ smallholdings, mining settlements, ports, foundries, fuse works, smelters, transportation routes, chapels and so much more. Part of the Cornish mining legacy is not just what you can find here in Cornwall but what survives around the world. Ports such as Hayle sent mining technology across the globe, and the mineworkers with their wealth of knowledge followed, this huge migration of people taking their skills, culture and food today known as the Cornish Diaspora. Because of this migration you can find Cornish mining descendants in places such as Peru, North America, Australia, Mexico to name but a few. The mineworkers, also known as “Cousin Jacks”, took Methodism and Cornish pasties creating communities which share many of our Cornish traditions worldwide.

Today in the Cornish Mining landscape you can find cafes and restaurants; Geevor’s Count House Café is perched overlooking the rugged cliffs and Geevor mine, which only closed as a working mine in 1990. You can also find activities such as underground mine tours, cycling mineral tramway routes, water sports, climbing and hiking trails over open, rugged moorland, or just sit back and enjoy the views. There really is something for everyone.

Bellingham’s Shaft engine house © Ainsley Cocks

In 2006 selected mining landscapes across Cornwall and west Devon

were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, placing Cornish mining

heritage on a par with international treasures like The Tower of London, the

Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China. The Cornish Mining World Heritage

Site covers ten Areas, 20,000 hectares, spreads into two counties and

contains over 200 iconic Cornish engine houses (the largest concentration

of such monuments anywhere in the world). It is the largest Industrial World

Heritage Site in the UK.

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Each Area of the World Heritage Site has its own unique personality and these feed into each other to tell the story of an industry and the people who built it, which, in turn, helped shape the modern world. It is a story of technology, geology, geography, incredible innovations and people. It is a story of the transfer of knowledge, skills, machinery, culture, food, sport, music and the religion. It is also a story of great hardship and tough conditions; of thousands of people who risked their lives every day and some who lost them working in an industry which made fortunes, into the millions for a select few.

There are mining attractions in each of the ten Areas, each providing a unique experience. There are also countless remnants of this fascinating history scattered throughout the landscape waiting to be discovered. You can walk, ride, cycle, or canoe through the former mining landscapes, be creatively inspired to paint, draw, photograph them. Maybe you will discover you are descended from some of these mining pioneers? Why not enjoy some Cornish food and beverages whilst sitting on a harbour wall where mining goods and supplies were exported and imported. Enjoy underground tours, walk through towns, mansions and beautifully crafted gardens founded on the fortunes of mining.

It is a living landscape, we hope that by reading this you will feel inspired to explore the beautiful scenery, dig deep into the rich history and find your own part in this amazing, continually evolving story.

Begin your journey to the heart of Cornwall and west Devon ...

ST JUST

St Just a stone’s throw from Land’s End, this is the most westerly Area of the Site. St Just is characterised by mining on the edge of the earth, rich minerals and metals lie under its jagged rocks, stark moorland, and iconic clifftop engine houses perched above the Atlantic in some incredible locations. No wonder this dramatic setting has inspired generations of artists, writers and photographers and is one of the main filming locations for Poldark.

Highlights

Take a tour of Geevor Tin Mine – one of the last

Cornish mines to close; it is one of only a few mine

sites with extensive collections of machinery open

to the public in Cornwall.

See Levant Mine, which is spectacularly sited

on the cliff edge. Its beam engine has been

restored by the Greasy Gang, and is driven by

steam again.

Visit the Botallack Count House for displays

of everything that made this place tick 150 years ago.

Walk through the remnants of the industry and for the

brave, climb down to the cliff engine houses.

HAYLE

Named after heyl, the Cornish word for estuary, this Area is dominated by water: rivers, pools, sluicing ponds, quays, wharves, and, of course, the sea. Huge sand dunes lie between the town and the beautiful St Ives Bay, with the dark hills of the West Penwith Moors looming to the west. In the early 19th century, Hayle was the most important mining port and steam engine manufacturing centre in the world.

Highlights

Walk the King George V Memorial Walk from Phillack,

taking in the pretty gardens around Copperhouse Pool,

and looking out for Black Bridge.

Watch the sunset over the old harbour, with the

towering dunes and St Ives in the background.

Explore the area around Foundry Barn, and imagining

it in its booming, busy heyday.

Visit Hayle Heritage Centre to learn about the foundries

which shaped Hayle.

Wheal Owles at Botallack © Colin Boucher

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TREGONNING & GWINEAR

The largest of the ten Areas, Tregonning and Gwinear contains diverse landscapes ranging from the idyllic pastoral charms of the rural farmland in the west of the Area to the atmospheric cliffscapes at Rinsey, with silent woods, exposed hills and subtropical gardens in between.

Highlights

Godolphin House provides a valuable insight into

the wealth of some of Cornwall’s most successful

industrialists and mine owners.

Experience the panoramic views from Tregonning and

Godolphin Hills, stretching as far as St Agnes and Hayle

on a clear day.

Explore the beautiful Rinsey headland and beach (at

low tide), and nearby Porthleven (not in the Site),

with its spectacular harbour that sweeps right into the

centre of the village.

WENDRON

In the heart of beautiful countryside surrounded by open moorland and gushing streams, Wendron is one of the smallest Areas in the Site – although its rich tin deposits meant it once had enough inhabitants to rival the combined population of Redruth and Camborne.

Highlights

Follow in the footsteps of history down into Wheal

Roots – the 18th century tin mine at Poldark – to

learn about Cornish mining history and find out what

conditions were actually like for Cornish mine workers.

Explore Porkellis Moor – a Cornwall Wildlife Trust

reserve, where nature has reclaimed the ancient

mining landscape.

Walk the footpaths around Carnmenellis (in the north

of the Area) and see the surviving mine workers’

smallholdings.

CAMBORNE & REDRUTH

The Camborne and Redruth Mining District became significant internationally for the pioneering technological progress made here, such as Richard Trevithick’s steam engines, William Bickford’s invention of the safety fuse, (which saved countless miners’ lives), and William Murdoch’s house, being the first in the world to be lit by gas (in 1792).

Highlights

Travel to Pool and visit Heartlands, Cornwall’s newest

free visitor attraction. Covering 19 acres, there is

so much to absorb, from the poetically landscaped

botanical gardens to the interactive exhibitions that

truly take you somewhere else.

Witness the unique collection of restored tin processing

equipment at King Edward Mine, a former training

centre for mining students dating from the turn of the

20th century—one of only a few remaining mine sites

with extensive collections of machinery in Cornwall.

Visit East Pool Mine, and see the interiors of two

complete engine houses with engines in situ.

Visit Cornish Studies Library in Redruth which holds

over 30,000 volumes covering Cornish history,

geography, industries, customs and highlights

Cornwall’s mining heritage.

GWENNAP

For a period in the 19th century Gwennap was described as the “richest square mile anywhere on Earth”. Once the richest of all Cornwall’s mining districts, its fine houses, well-preserved industrial remains and dramatic mining landscapes combine to tell a compelling and colourful story of Cornish Mining’s heyday.

Highlights

Visit the famous Gwennap Pit, where John Wesley

preached to the Cornish Mining communities.

Take in the sheer scale of past industrial activity at

Poldice and Wheal Maid, which reveal the enormous

impact that mining has had in transforming the

landscape of this part of Cornwall.

ST AGNES

Famous for its spectacular coastline and well-preserved Cornish engine houses perched on rugged cliffs – like the iconic Wheal Coates - this Area also has a rich heritage to explore inland, from the tin treatment works in narrow stream valleys to the pretty village with its granite mine workers’ cottages, fine public buildings and luscious gardens.

Highlights

Walk the stark coastline around Cligga Head, world

famous for its outstanding mineralogy and cliff

workings.

Visit St Agnes Museum to discover more about the

area’s mining heritage.

LUXULYAN VALLEY & CHARLESTOWN

From tranquil green woods to a bustling harbour village, the landscapes of Luxulyan Valley and Charlestown are very different. However, they share important similarities: both are stunningly beautiful places with fantastic walks and rich mining histories to explore, and both were created by two locally-prominent industrial entrepreneurs.

Heartlands - Robinsons Shaft © Ainsley Cocks

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Highlights

Visit Wheal Martyn; a fascinating insight into Cornwall’s

important billion pound china clay mining industry.

Stand under the Treffry Viaduct, which, despite being

huge, manages to hide itself amongst the woodland

until it is literally upon you!

Experience the delightful Prideaux Woods (to the

south-west of Luxulyan Valley) – a quarter of which is

ancient woodland.

CARADON

This rugged, windswept and mostly treeless Area sits high up in a remote but beautiful corner of Bodmin Moor. Rising dramatically from the surrounding plain, the granite dome of Caradon Hill dominates the Area and is encircled by engine houses, chimney stacks, thousands of tonnes of waste rock from the various mines and quarries, and the track bed of the Liskeard & Caradon Railway.

Highlights

Visit Liskeard Museum and Minions Heritage Centre to

discover more about the Area’s heritage.

Watch the sunset from the top of Caradon Hill, looking

west across the golden moors and Siblyback Lake.

Visit the Prince of Wales Shaft at Phoenix United

Mine, built for the last big pumping engine made in

Cornwall (1907).

TAMAR VALLEY AND TAVISTOCK

Stretching from the high granite ridge and exposed moors of Kit Hill in Cornwall to the lush, deep wooded valleys of the meandering Tamar River – and the farming lands of the Devon plateau beyond – the Area spans the border between Cornwall and Devon.

Highlights

Discover the magical house, gardens, woodlands, and

riverside walks and quays of Cotehele, the historic seat

of the Edgcumbe family.

Visit Tavistock Museum and find out more about the

Area’s heritage. Journey through the tree tops, canoe

along the River Tamar, ride through the valley, enjoy

bushcraft and archery – all at the Tamar trails centre.

Gaze out across the magnificent panoramas from the

top of Kit Hill.

The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site Office has released their first “Official Guide to the Cornwall & West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site” to raise awareness and funds to support the protection and conservation of the Site. It is £9.99 and is available from a range of Cornish shops. Contact the team on social media to find out more.

More information on the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site can be found at www.cornishmining.org.uk

Wheal Coates - Towanroath Shaft engine house 7 © Ainsley Cocks

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