Mineral products and their transport implications

Tin ore was crushed at the mine to a fine mass and the waste separated out to produce sacks of concentrate (around 60% tin metal). These were taken to local tin smelters. Copper ore was sorted and broken by hand into small lumps and taken in bulk (6-12% copper metal) mostly to ports to be shipped to South Wales for smelting. Arsenic ore was refined (either to the oxide or a pure form) at the larger mines or special refineries, and packed in casks.

By far the greatest volume of carriage from the mines was therefore due to the transportation of copper ore to the nearest port for shipment to South Wales. The beginnings of the nineteenth century marked a great era of expansion and growth in Cornish copper mining but progress was being impeded by the inadequacies of a slow, congested and sometimes even seasonal transport infrastructure. Mines in the region were concentrated in a spatial and structural relationship with the outcrops of granite and their metamorphic aureoles. However, the geographical distribution of output shifted temporally as new lodes (and even districts) were discovered and old ones exhausted.

Cornwall has an extensive coastline and a long maritime tradition but until the late-eighteenth century it had few large specialised ports. The mining trade was handled by newly-developed specialist industrial harbours throughout the region. Pre-eminent amongst these were: Hayle, Copperhouse, Portreath and Devoran.

Cast iron rails were first adopted in Coalbrookdale (Shropshire) in 1767 and short industrial tramways were soon in use at mines and quarries across the country. Far heavier loads could now be moved, by the same power, than on the finest road surface. During the 1820s, many of the more important mines in the region adopted horse-drawn tramways to link production shafts and dressing floors. Traction continued to be provided by horse and mule power until steam locomotives were introduced.

Redruth and Chasewater Railway (1824) (Gwennap Mining District)

The first turf of the Tamar, Kit Hill and Callington Railway was cut in 1863, and the line was completed as the East Cornwall Minerals Railway in 1872. The line connected the mines in the Kit Hill-Gunnislake area with the port of Calstock. The railway above Calstock (worked by two steam locomotives) was connected to the Calstock quays and the River Tamar by a rope-worked single track incline with a passing loop at its mid-way point. The line was taken over in 1901 by the Plymouth, Devonport & South Western Junction Railway. The Calstock viaduct was built in 1907 and subsequently the Calstock incline was abandoned and a fifteen ton wagon lift was constructed against one of the viaduct piers. This was dismantled and sold for scrap in 1934.

Other railways constructed in Cornwall and West Devon to link developing industrial areas to the coast were: the Pentewan Railway (1829) connecting St Austell to Pentewan; the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway (1834); the Newquay to St. Dennis line (1849) with its branch to the Newlyn East lead mines; the Fowey Consols to Par line (1851) replacing the Par canal; and the line linking Devon Great Consols to Morwelham (1857).

The Pentewan Railway was built in 1829 by Sir Christopher Hawkins primarily for china clay traffic, although there was however a siding near London Apprentice that served Polgooth Mine. It was not until 1874 that a locomotive replaced horses. The silting of the harbour at Pentewan combined with the reluctance of the clay companies to transport their clay by horse and cart to the terminus at St Austell brought about the closure of the line in 1918.

Canals were generally not a practical option for moving minerals and supplies, particularly in the western part of the nominated Site. For one thing, the mines were in relatively easy reach of navigable water; for another, many mines were on or close to the granite uplands. There were some notable exceptions. At Carclaze Mine, a tin open-work near St Austell, a subterranean canal was in operation from around 1720-31. This ran beneath the length of the pit and was connected to it by a 40m deep shaft down which ore was lowered into the barges. These were made of oak, 2 x 1.5 x 0.3m deep, with flat bottoms and were simply floated out to the stamps and dressing floors nearly 1km away.

The Tavistock Canal (built 1803-17) was 7.2km and was constructed by Taylor to link the copper mines that he managed in the Tavistock area with the River Tamar, the principal transport highway to the sea at Plymouth. A 2.4km tunnel carried it beneath the high ground of Morwell Down and an inclined plane connected the Morwellham canal basin with the quays below.

The Liskeard & Looe Union Canal (opened in 1827) connected Moorswater with Looe. The canal owed its success to the discovery of copper ore at South Caradon Mine in 1836 and to the considerable traffic of the Caradon mines and granite quarries thereafter. From 1844 the Liskeard & Caradon Railway linked South Caradon with the inland canal terminus at Moorswater.

By the late 1850s the canal was proving to be inadequate due to the high level of mineral output from the Caradon mining district and so, in 1860, the canal company extended the railway down to Looe. This initially relieved congestion on the canal and then swiftly replaced it.

The Par Canal (opened in 1829) was constructed by Treffry from Par to the foot of Penpillick Hill and later extended to Ponts Mill. This connected with a railway to Lanescot Mine and via an inclined plane to Fowey Consols, a large and very rich mine owned by Treffry.