Botallack Mine to Pendeen Head
Cornwall has a spectacular coastline – unless you happen to be in a small boat with an onshore wind, in which case it can be terrifying. Large stretches of it have the remains of Cornwall’s centuries of tin, copper and lead mining, and you can follow it by walking the South West Coastal Path. We walked from the Crowns section of the Botallack Mine to Pendeen Lighthouse on a day of brilliant sunshine and clouds – my ideal weather for photography. There was a force 6 wind, so the wind-chill temperature was just above zero. The Cornish mining landscapes are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Botallack Mine is the most spectacularly-situated of all of the coastal mines, with the engine houses perched just above the sea. The mine was being worked beneath the sea by 1778, and closed because of flooding in 1895. The output was copper, tin and arsenic. There are extensive remains on top of the cliff, including a handsome Count House.
A little over a kilometer further north is the Levant Mine. Pendeen Lighthouse can be seen in the distance, with the Coastguard cottages directly above the mine buildings.
Levant Mine with a large shaft covered by an iron grid in the right foreground. The chimneys in the middle distance are the arsenic flue on the left and the compressor engine on the right. Pendeen Lighthouse can be seen in the distance.
Levant Mine: the house containing the preserved winding engine on the left, and the remains of the pumping engine house on the right. The Levant Mine (copper, tin and arsenic) was the most successful mine in the district. The workings extended 1.6 km beneath the sea. The mine closed in 1932.
Levant Mine: the winding engine house on the left, and the pumping engine house on the right.
Levant Mine: arsenic flue chimney on the left and compressor house on the right.
Levant Mine: remains of the Count House with the compressor engine behind.
Levant Mine: pumping and winding engine house and headgear. The chimney of Botallack Mine can be seen on top of the cliff in the distance.
Incline and tunnel at the Levant Mine.
The stack at the end of the flue from the arsenic calciner. The black colouration at the top of the stack is from the arsenic fumes.
Remains of the arsenic calciner.
Three views of the arsenic ovens.
Looking south over Trewellard Zawn to the remains of the Levant Mine and the calciner.
The Avarack below Carn Rôs – moderate sea state, force 6 wind.
Pendeen Lighthouse. The hump in the foreground is The Enys – a tidal island.
Pendeen Lighthouse, completed in 1900. The Admiralty chart labels the light Fl(4) 15s 59m 16M, which means the light flashes 4 times every 15s, is 59m above mean sea level (the tower is 17 m high), and it is visible for 16 nautical miles. A nautical mile is 1 minute of latitude, and is now defined as equal to 1852m.
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