Listing verified as genuine
Posted on 17th March 2016 / 1025
Industry Type : Mining - (Metalliferous) Iron, Copper, Tin etc
Power Type : Steam
Public or Private Site? : Public Access
Condition : Restored, Partially Restored

East Pool Mine has 2 beam engines and one of them is one of the largest Cornish beam engines in the world!

There is a pumping and winding engine at East Pool Mine!

The East Pool Mine is run by the National Trust, part of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site and under the watchful eye of the fabulous Trevithick Society. It’s a split site because it has 2 shafts: Mitchell’s Shaft and Taylor’s Shaft – they don’t do things by halves there!

Michell’s Shaft Engine House contains the last beam whim (winding) engine to be installed in Cornwall. It has a cylinder of 30 inches (0.76 m) diameter and was built in 1887 by Holman Brothers. It cost £675 and was designed to run at 27 strokes per minute and have a winding speed of 1,000 feet per minute (5.1 m/s).

The main winnings from the mines here were Copper, but later Tin, Arsenic and Wolframite. But it didn’t stop there, it also produced small amounts of Bismuth, Cobalt and Uranium!!!

The mining really started here in the early 18th century for Copper and the mine was called “Poor Old Bal”. In Cornish, Bal means ‘mine’ and the use of poor and old might suggest earlier, but unfruitful workings?!

The mine’s adit (drainage tunnel) was 32 fathoms (192 ft; 59 m) below ground and mining had taken place 16 fathoms (96 ft; 29 m) below this, so the workings below this point had to be drained machanically. They employed the technology of the day, which was a flatrod system powered by a water wheel! The waterwheel was located just south of Pool village. This phase of mining ceased in 1784.

The geology in the area is metamorphosed killas and greenstone, overlying the Carn Brea granite. The many lodes on the sett are all crossed by several elvan dykes – just so ya know!

In 1834, the mine restarted as East Pool mine. It was doing well, until the 1840s when copper prices slumped. The cost of drainage was almost sinking the mine company and it was a complicated matter since underground many of the mines were linked. If East Pool turned off their pumps, then South Crofty would suffer, so they kept on pumping!

Thankfully, in 1860 a rich body of ore containing wolframite was discovered. This ore has a similar specific gravity to cassiterite (which it the ore of tin) and the normal methods used for separating the ore could not separate these two minerals. To solve this problem a Wetherill’s Magnetic Separator, which could process 10 tons of ore per day, was installed!

The nearby mine of Wheal Agar was struggling financially and eventually turned its pumps off, which flooded the lower levels of East Pool Mine! So, after discussion with Lord Robartes of Llanhydrock House, who owned Wheal Agarin 1897, East Pool bought Wheal Agar for £4k.

East Pool was one of the few mines, along with South Crofty, Tincroft, Dolcoath and Wheal Basset and a few others, that were able to survive the depression of the Cornish mining industry in the late 19th century – probably because they managed to keep on pumping that water out and were able to supply other minerals to the fluctuating market.

In 1913 the mine became known a EPAL – East Pool and Agar Ltd

Since the 1860s, the mine had had an extensive ore processing plant located just over a mile away to the east in the Red River valley at Tolvaddon. From 1903 until August 1934, ore was transported there via a mineral tramway which went through Pool village. The tramway closed in 1934 and so the ore was then carried by an aerial ropeway, which ran directly across the countryside to the mill. This was a successful system that continued in use until the closure of the mine in 1945.

After a rock fall in 1921, a new shaft was sunk – Taylor’s Shaft – to pump the water out. They obtained a previously-loved beam engine from Carn Brea, built by Harvey & Co. Built in 1892, it was known as Harvey’s Engine and had been designed by Nicholas Trestrail. It pumped water from the mine using 7 lifts of 16 and 18 inch pumps The 110 ft tall (34 m) chimney stack for this engine’s boilers was completed before the engine house was built. You can still see its unique white-brick vertical lettering – proudly saying EPAL. This engines kept on working until 1954, long after the closure of the East Pool Mine, because it was also serving the neighbouring mines and South Crofty was still in operation.

East Pool Mine closed in 1945.

Now it’s an interesting visitor centre, where you really get to see the size of the industry. Click on the National Trust icon below for visiting information.

 

National trust logo (2)_0Cornish-Mining-World-Heritage-logoTrevithick SocietyERIH

 

Agar Rd, Pool, Redruth, TR15 3ED

East Pool Mine

East Pool Mine has 2 beam engines and one of them is one of the largest Cornish beam engines in the world!

There is a pumping and winding engine at East Pool Mine!

The East Pool Mine is run by the National Trust, part of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site and under the watchful eye of the fabulous Trevithick Society. It’s a split site because it has 2 shafts: Mitchell’s Shaft and Taylor’s Shaft – they don’t do things by halves there!

Michell’s Shaft Engine House contains the last beam whim (winding) engine to be installed in Cornwall. It has a cylinder of 30 inches (0.76 m) diameter and was built in 1887 by Holman Brothers. It cost £675 and was designed to run at 27 strokes per minute and have a winding speed of 1,000 feet per minute (5.1 m/s).

The main winnings from the mines here were Copper, but later Tin, Arsenic and Wolframite. But it didn’t stop there, it also produced small amounts of Bismuth, Cobalt and Uranium!!!

The mining really started here in the early 18th century for Copper and the mine was called “Poor Old Bal”. In Cornish, Bal means ‘mine’ and the use of poor and old might suggest earlier, but unfruitful workings?!

The mine’s adit (drainage tunnel) was 32 fathoms (192 ft; 59 m) below ground and mining had taken place 16 fathoms (96 ft; 29 m) below this, so the workings below this point had to be drained machanically. They employed the technology of the day, which was a flatrod system powered by a water wheel! The waterwheel was located just south of Pool village. This phase of mining ceased in 1784.

The geology in the area is metamorphosed killas and greenstone, overlying the Carn Brea granite. The many lodes on the sett are all crossed by several elvan dykes – just so ya know!

In 1834, the mine restarted as East Pool mine. It was doing well, until the 1840s when copper prices slumped. The cost of drainage was almost sinking the mine company and it was a complicated matter since underground many of the mines were linked. If East Pool turned off their pumps, then South Crofty would suffer, so they kept on pumping!

Thankfully, in 1860 a rich body of ore containing wolframite was discovered. This ore has a similar specific gravity to cassiterite (which it the ore of tin) and the normal methods used for separating the ore could not separate these two minerals. To solve this problem a Wetherill’s Magnetic Separator, which could process 10 tons of ore per day, was installed!

The nearby mine of Wheal Agar was struggling financially and eventually turned its pumps off, which flooded the lower levels of East Pool Mine! So, after discussion with Lord Robartes of Llanhydrock House, who owned Wheal Agarin 1897, East Pool bought Wheal Agar for £4k.

East Pool was one of the few mines, along with South Crofty, Tincroft, Dolcoath and Wheal Basset and a few others, that were able to survive the depression of the Cornish mining industry in the late 19th century – probably because they managed to keep on pumping that water out and were able to supply other minerals to the fluctuating market.

In 1913 the mine became known a EPAL – East Pool and Agar Ltd

Since the 1860s, the mine had had an extensive ore processing plant located just over a mile away to the east in the Red River valley at Tolvaddon. From 1903 until August 1934, ore was transported there via a mineral tramway which went through Pool village. The tramway closed in 1934 and so the ore was then carried by an aerial ropeway, which ran directly across the countryside to the mill. This was a successful system that continued in use until the closure of the mine in 1945.

After a rock fall in 1921, a new shaft was sunk – Taylor’s Shaft – to pump the water out. They obtained a previously-loved beam engine from Carn Brea, built by Harvey & Co. Built in 1892, it was known as Harvey’s Engine and had been designed by Nicholas Trestrail. It pumped water from the mine using 7 lifts of 16 and 18 inch pumps The 110 ft tall (34 m) chimney stack for this engine’s boilers was completed before the engine house was built. You can still see its unique white-brick vertical lettering – proudly saying EPAL. This engines kept on working until 1954, long after the closure of the East Pool Mine, because it was also serving the neighbouring mines and South Crofty was still in operation.

East Pool Mine closed in 1945.

Now it’s an interesting visitor centre, where you really get to see the size of the industry. Click on the National Trust icon below for visiting information.

 

National trust logo (2)_0Cornish-Mining-World-Heritage-logoTrevithick SocietyERIH

 

Agar Rd, Pool, Redruth, TR15 3ED

East Pool Mine
Industry Type : Mining - (Metalliferous) Iron, Copper, Tin etc
Power Type : Steam
Public or Private Site? : Public Access
Condition : Restored, Partially Restored
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