Wheal Busy – All Quiet Now

Although there may have been mines in the Wheal Busy area as early as the 16th century, it wasn’t until the 1720s that the mine began producing significant amounts of copper ore.. The Boscawen family was the largest landowner. In those days, the area where the mine stood was dubbed “the richest square mile on Earth.” More than 100,000 tonnes of copper ore and 27,000 tonnes of arsenic were mined during its lifetime. After 1823, the mine was renamed Wheal Busy. The mine used to smelt its own copper ore as well.

With Hallenbeagle Mine and other nearby mines, the Great Wheal Busy United Mining Company operated for a period of time. There are no records of its early production, which began in 1718, when it was first used for copper mining. It produced a large amount of copper between 1815 and 1870, with the majority of that production occurring before 1856, when the mine was 100 feet below Deep Adit level. The mines were extended by 40 fms the following year, and for the next ten years, tin and copper ores were mined. It was used primarily for arsenic in later years. Arsenic and wolfram were discovered in the dumps in the early twentieth century. Several shafts and spoil heaps can be found north of the Redruth-Chacewater road. A calciner, a few engine houses, and a smithy are all still visible.

Since 11 March 1974, the mine has been designated a historic site. The arsenic calciner, the engine house, and the mine’s chapel were all listed as Grade II buildings on November 21, 1985, while the mine’s smithy building was listed on December 7, 2004. Many of the mine’s buildings were found to be in need of repair in 2011. During the summer of 2015, Natural England’s Higher Level Stewardship completed construction on the engine house and its accompanying buildings. While the smithy building also required work, the agency was unable to fund its restoration. However, it was hoped that other funding sources would be found for this building’s restoration.

The former Smithy at Wheal Busy is a Grade II listed building. Be sure to check out the cast iron sign above the doorway. Some of the roof struts remain and it would be wonderful to peak inside but you can’t now. This is easily one of the best preserved tin mining buildings about.

Address:Wheal Busy, Chacewater, Truro, TR4 8NZ

The only engine house that still stands is the one for the Engine shafts pumping engine with its telescope stack. But it a fine surviving relic and worth the detour to get here. This was built in 1856 for an 85-inch Harvey’s engine. It worked until 1866, when it was replaced by a 90-inch Perran Foundry engine in 1873. When this was done, it cost £4,400 (£275,479.60 today). It only worked for six months before it had to be taken down again. A secondhand 85-inch engine from the Perran Foundry was put in the house in 1909. It worked until the mine closed in 1924 and was scrapped in 1952. (imagine the scrap value!) The boiler house next door was built in 1909, and it had three Lancashire boilers in it at the time. Neither are accessible due to being fenced off for safety.

Beyond the rough and ready car park is a dangerous park to explore. IT has plenty of capped of mine shafts and other dangers. Keep to the paths here. In teh distance you can spy other stacks, as well as a ghostly grey patch of land, poisoned no doubt, but a cast back to the busyness of this place in years gone by.

The Coast to Coast Trail includes the Wheal Busy Loop. The popular Mineral Tramway’s 11-mile long trail takes cyclists along a former Tramroad from Devoran in the south by the sheltered Restronguet creek on the River Fal to the historic mining harbour town of Portreath on the Atlantic north coast of the county.