Harvey's and Copperhouse
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A complex set of social and industrial
relationships was established in Hayle through the rivalry between
two of the largest iron foundries in south-west Britain: Harvey &
Company, and the Cornwall Copper Company. From 1758 until 1819 the
latter firm operated the largest, most successful and long-lived
copper smelter of its time outside South Wales. From the 1820s
until 1867 the copper smelter site was used by the company as an
iron foundry known as the Copperhouse Foundry (trading as Sandys,
Carne and Vivian). These two industrial giants directly steered
development within the port of Hayle towards two geographically
distinct urban areas; Harvey & Co at Foundry beside the railway
line and its rival beside the estuary at Copperhouse.
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| Key industrial and public
buildings survive in Hayle, together with good examples of housing
that reflect the social divide of industrial labour. High-density
terraced housing of the work-force contrasts with the villas and
mansions of the managerial class. From the point of view of
traffic between Cornwall and south Wales, Hayle’s geographical
location on the north Cornish coast was highly strategic. The
extensive quays and wharves survive largely intact. They clearly
define the character of the broad open shape of one of Europe’s
most outstanding estuarine settings. |
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The scale of the landforms constructed during the development of
the port is impressive. They range from the great harbour spit of
Middle Weir (1819), the Copperhouse Canal (1769/87) and the
sluicing pools (1789) to the Causeway road (1824-5), one of
Cornwall’s earliest road engineering monuments.
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Copperhouse and its Dock & Canal
Scoria (copper smelting slag) building blocks, once offered
free to workers, distinguish the architecture of Copperhouse
vernacular’ though their use in domestic housing is commonly
concealed by distinctive period render.
Copperhouse Pool is part of the
maritime industrial infrastructure which kept the Copperhouse
Canal (1769/87) free of sand and so navigable. Black Road and
Black Bridge were constructed to provide a road crossing from
Copperhouse to Phillack Churchtown and later to the northern
copper quays. |
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| Other notable features in the
vicinity include the oldest surviving railway bridge (standard
gauge) in Cornwall at Lethlean (Scheduled Monument, 1837) and a
railway swing bridge, with machinery still intact, crossing the
Copperhouse Canal. |
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