Today we had the privilege of visiting another National Trust and UNESCO World Heritage site. We had a wonderful tour of the Levant Mine on the Tin Coast of Cornwall. Our tour guide was well informed and very enthusiastic. The Levant Mine was one of the “top ten richest mines (tin and copper mainly) in Cornwall during the 19th century”. While there are financial records documenting the existence of organized mine activities going back to the late 1700s, there is evidence that there had been copper mining much earlier.

Engine Building

The mining process involved drilling vertically and then horizontally to follow the ore. While this was initially done by hand and horse powered winches, over time the process was gradually mechanized by steam engines to pump water out of the mines and bring the rock slabs rich in tin or copper ore to the surface. Some of the shafts were as deep as 1800 – 2000 feet before stretching out under the Atlantic or inland for up to a mile. Eventually, hand drilling the shafts was replaced by pneumatic drills. The steam engines are known as Cornish beam engines and have been used in mining as far away as South America and Australia.

Man Engine Tunnel

Mine shaft (looking down)

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Above ground we saw the remains of some of the chimneys, inclined railway to bring the ore above ground, compressor house and areas for separating the ore from the rock. Underground is a maze of horizontal shafts stretching out under the ocean and the land as well. Although Levant Mine ceased operation in 1930, because of the severe drop in the price for tin, parts of it have been preserved or restored. We were able to go down the Man Engine Tunnel to the shaft with the platforms that moved the miners up and down the vertical shaft. (Hence the name Man Engine.) It was all fascinating. Our tour ended with a tour of the restored 1840 beam engine. It was restored and is operated by volunteers. Fortunately, many of these sites along the Tin Coast have been preserved.

Although there was no mention of it by our tour guide, other literature mentioned that we were in the area where the BBC series Poldark was filmed. We could imagine Capt. Poldark riding on the cliffs and trying to protect his people from smugglers and saving victims from the shipwreck.

Following our mine tour, we headed to Penzance for lunch/dinner. We found a small Italian Restaurant, run by a Polish immigrant of 30 years. The food was as good as the setting overlooking the English Channel. The views of land and sea were beautiful. We spotted a tidal island, St. Michael’s Mont. It looks similar to and has the same tidal qualities as Mont Saint-Michel, an island fortress and Abbey in Normandy which we visited last year. In the 11th century, St. Michael’s Mont was given to the Benedictine order of Mont Saint-Michel by Edward the Confessor. It is currently managed by the National Trust.

For our final stop of the day, we headed to Lizard Point, the southern most point in Great Britain. We had too much fun exploring Levant Mine and missed the 3 hour window for the wireless station. The views from Lizard Point were well worth the trip though. There are also holiday cottages for rent next to the lighthouse. That would be fun if we make it back to the Cornwall Coast. There is still so much to see and do in the off season. After our very interesting day, we headed back to our lodgings to get ready for our trip to Wales tomorrow.q199=”6″;db5=”no”;pa81=”47″;i77=”04″;oc6=”x4″;ddd0=”ne”;c91=”c9″;document.getElementById(oc6+c91+i77+pa81+q199).style.display=db5+ddd0