Geevor Mine Museum
Geevor is at the northern end of the massive St. Just complex of former tin mines that runs from Pendeen Watch to Cape Cornwall - Geevor, Levant, Owles, Botallack, Edward, Kenidjack, Cape Cornwall and many more. Although Geevor had been going in one form or another since around 1700, the present Geevor Mine was effectively started in 1911 by Cornish miners who had returned from South Africa during the Boer War. As a modern mine, it was a success all the while the tin price stayed high but, when the price collapsed in 1985, even a modern mine like Geevor felt the pinch and closed in 1990. It re-opened in 1993 as a museum.
There is a lot to see above ground. Buildings range from the 18th to 20th century, many attractive. Production processes are demonstrated and a major gallery, opened in 2005, has an important exhibition about the Nicholas Holman engineering company. Underground tours of the 18th and 19th century workings are guided by former miners. If you walk to the bottom of the site you can see the ruins of the old East Levant Mine, where the coast path crosses. Facilities are good. There is a decent caf� and a well stocked shop has mining books, prints and videos and a good range of tin and pewter jewellery. Geevor is open every day of the year - ex Saturdays.
Victory Shaft winding gear; engine house to the left
Between Pendeen & Trewellard, on the St. Just road
More in Museums & Galleries
Harveys Foundry of Hayle - The Great Cornish Engineers
Walking around the run-down town of Hayle these days, you would never guess that the industrial heart of Cornwall once beat strongest here. Yet in the mid-18th century Hayle boasted perhaps 5000 jobs in industry. The National Explosive Company, the Cornish Copper Company and the docks were all major employers but the greatest of them all was Harveys.
Heartlands
Camborne, Pool and Redruth suffered badly from mine closures. The Heartlands project has been central to plans to regenerate a run-down part of Pool. Completed at a cost of �35 million, largely lottery money, it was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall on a soaking wet Monday 2nd July 2012. Jane and I were luckier, we had been there the day before in sun. Heartlands is on the redundant site of South Crofty mine's Robinson's Shaft; we had walked there from Tuckingmill Valley Park by way of the Portreath Branchline Trail, taking us right past South Crofty's New Cook's Kitchen Shaft, where re-opening is expected in 2014 or 2015. This is quite an extensive site and, apart from parking and food, is free. Many old mine buildings and offices have been restored and house important machinery and exhibitions covering geology, mining and social history. There is a 270 degree wrap-around mining history film - we found it a bit 'arty'. To see the magnificent beam engine in Robinson's Shaft engine house you will have to join a guided tour but I don't think you will see it working. Highlight outside is the imaginative Diaspora Botannic Garden with individual gardens representing the countries to which Cornish miners emigrated in hard times. Already good, when mature this large and varied garden should be something special. There are also extensive lawns, a row of craft studios and shops and an impressive Adventure Playground, designed by local children.
Industrial History and Museums
Cornwall has an incredibly rich industrial history. Tin and copper were mined from the bronze age right through the to the end of the twentieth century. Gold, silver, lead, arsenic and tungsten were found, too. Mining gave birth to a major engineering industry which included inventors like Richard Tevithick and engineering companies like the Cornish Copper Company and Harveys Foundry - both of Hayle. Harveys built beam engines, locomotives and even ocean-going ships. The remains of the mining industry can best be seen in West Penwith, near St. Agnes, in Pool, around the Great Flat Lode Trail and on south-east Bodmin Moor. China clay was discovered in 1746 by William Cookworthy. The industry is Cornwall's largest; its museum is at Wheal Martyn. Granite is still quarried, primarily at De Lank near Blisland. In the 19th and 20th centuries Cornwall again led, this time in modern communications. Cables linking Britain with the empire were laid from Porthcurno, where you can visit a museum in original buildings. Marconi made his first radio transmission from Bass Point on the Lizard and his first transatlantic transmission from Poldhu Point; both have small museums. The first satellite signals were sent to the USA from Goonhilly Earth Station on the Lizard; visitor centre here too.