Dolcoath Mine
The early history of the mine - like most others
in Cornwall - is obscure. The first documented reference to
Dolcoath was in 1738. Even during the 18th century, this was a
deep mine - workings were down to 290m by 1780, and the mine was
already complex and extensive at surface, water power being of
particular importance for pumping and winding with leats (some in
a shallow tunnel system) being brought into the site over long
distances from both east and west. Dolcoath was also very early
(by 1758) equipped with the new atmospheric steam engines. The
collapse of the Copper Standard during the 1780s forced its
closure; it was reopened in 1799 and continued to produce copper
until the mid 1840s.
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Dolcoath weathered the slump in copper
prices of the late 18th century brought about by the development
of the Parys Mountain sulphide deposit on Anglesey, and continued
to develop in depth - reaching 500m below surface by the 1820's.
By the 1840's, however, the copper reserves were economically
almost depleted, and following the example of the Carn Brea mines
to the east, the adventurers extended the mine ever downwards in
search of the tin that was likely to lie below. The finding of
massive, rich lodes of tin in depth ensured that the second
century of activity at Dolcoath was quite as rich as the first,
and the mine became a byword for Cornish Mining - a blue chip
concern of the first order.
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It was said of the mine in 1876 "the
deeper it goes, the richer it gets". The engine houses and other
buildings of the mine stretched from Valley Shaft in the east to
Stray Park Shaft in the west, tramways and leats connecting the
dispersed production sites to the massive dressing floors which
sprawled down the slopes of the Red River Valley and along its
base. Development continued ever downwards. In the 1870's, the
Stray Park workings had been re-developed, and in 1895 the mine
was re-structured as a limited Liability Company, soon acquiring
Carn Camborne, Camborne Vean and Camborne Consols mines (part of
Dolcoath West). In 1886 the main lode was at least 18' in width,
and showed no signs of bottoming out. It must have seemed at that
time that Dolcoath's fortunes would inevitably continue in the
same expansive and successful fashion into the foreseeable future.
This was not to be the case, however.
Despite the re-development of old
production shafts, the sett was dispersed, the shafts were
massively deepened versions of those which had been in use for
nearly two centuries, much of the surface plant was old fashioned,
and Dolcoath, though rich, was poorly-suited to face the
challenges of a growing and aggressive international tin market.
The sinking of a new vertical production shaft on Carn Entral
(William's) to intersect the main lodes 1000m below the surface
and some redevelopment of the surface plant in the last years of
the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century came too
late, in the event. With a decline in the quality of the ore grade
and almost insuperable difficulties in working such a dispersed
deep sett (Dolcoath was the deepest mine in the county, and by
1914 had some 70 miles of underground levels), Dolcoath could not
survive, and closed in 1921. An attempt was made to reopen and
develop the northern portion of the sett from a new shaft at
Roskear in 1923, but this met with little success. The sett was
acquired by South Crofty in 1936. |
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