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Cornish Mines & Engines – Cornwall and Devon Mining

Michell's Whim - East Pool Mine

originally known as East Pool Mine, the site contains a wealth of fascinating attractions, the most significant being two magnificent Cornish Beam Engines which are still, very unusually, situated in their original and iconic engine houses. These are the 1887 Michell's Whim Engine which has been beautifully restored and is run daily using electricity, and the massive Taylor's Engine with its 90 inch cylinder and immense 52 ton beam which was one of the largest ever built for pumping water from a Cornish Mine. The site also contains many other original buildings and mining artefacts, numerous models and static displays, and an emotive film about Cornwall's mining heritage.

www.nationaltrust.org.uk 01209 315027

Cornwall and Devon Mining

Wheal Trewavas

The landscapes of Cornwall and west Devon were radically reshaped during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by deep-lode mining for predominantly copper and tin. The mines, engine houses, foundries, new towns, smallholdings, ports, harbours, and ancillary industries so created, together reflect prolific industrial innovation which was to have a significant influence on the development of our modern industrial society.

The best surviving of these metal mining landscapes are recognised within the newly designated Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, or ‘Cornish Mining’, as inscribed by UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation) in July 2006. This places the historic mining landscapes on a par with such international treasures as Stonehenge, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China.

The Cornish Mining World Heritage Site is a serial inscription comprising ten principal Areas from St Just in the far west of Cornwall to Tavistock in west Devon. Together these total 19,700 hectares making this the largest World Heritage Site in the UK.