Levant Mine and Beam Engine is a

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

property at

Trewellard Trewellard (from , meaning "Gwyllard's settlement"; ) is a small village on the north coast road between St Just in Penwith, St Just and St Ives, Cornwall, St Ives in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies along the B3306 road which connects ...

Pendeen Pendeen (from meaning "headland fort", previously known as , meaning "Caswal's high dwelling") is a village and ecclesiastical parish on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, England. It is north-northeast of St Just and west of Penzance. I ...

, near St Just,

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, UK. Its main attraction is that it has the world's oldest Cornish steam winding engine still working in its original location (and the last such engine still in steam in Cornwall). There is also a visitor centre, a short underground tour, and the

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

leads to

Botallack Mine The Botallack Mine () is a former mine in Botallack in the west of Cornwall, UK. Since 2006 it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site – Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. The mine is within the Aire Point to Carrick Du SSSI, ...

, via a cliff-top footpath. In 1919 the engine used to transport men between the different levels of the mine failed, leading to the deaths of thirty-one men. Since 2006, the area has been part of the

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is a World Heritage Site which includes select mining landscapes in Cornwall and West Devon in the south west of England. The site was added to the World Heritage List during the 30th Session of the ...

Location

The property is on the site of the former Levant Mine, established in 1820 and closed in 1930, where tin and copper ores were raised. The mine reached a depth of about 600 metres. It got the nickname "mine under the sea", because tunnels were driven up to 2.5 km from the cliffs under the sea. The surviving beam engine was built by Harvey's of Hayle. Levant-Mine Gebaeude en

History

The mine yields both copper and tin and was opened in 1820 with twenty shares of £20 each. From first opening, to circa 1883, the mine gave a profit of £171,000 from approximately £1,300,000 worth of ore. In 1882 the mine was taken over by new owners on a 21 year lease, who replaced machinery and improved the surface-works. In 1883 three shafts were open. One shaft is occupied by the man-engine, a second by a pumping-engine and the third for hauling out the skips. Since the introductions of skips, for bringing ore to the surface, two shafts were abandoned. There were six engines on site, # pumping-engine, cylinder – pumps water from the mine # stamping, cylinder – breaks up the ore # winding-engine or whim, cylinder – raises the ore to the surface # man-engine, cylinder # crushing-machine, cylinder # winding-engine, cylinder. A description of the working conditions of the mine was described in '' The Cornishman'' newspaper in 1883. Around 366 men, boys, and girls were employed compared with about 600 prior to 1882. The mine was worked in three, eight-hour shifts, (except on Sunday) with fifty to sixty men working underground in each shift. Access to the underground levels (i.e. passages) was by ladder and the temperature was around . The men were all more or less working in a nude state and sweating profusely. They were provided with spring water which was stored in huge canteens. Few are able to work underground after the age of 35. The width of the levels are high and wide, while the width of the lode is from to wide. Thus a quantity of hard rock on each side of the lode has to be cut away at great expense. The levels are expanded by explosives. First a hole is made by hand-drill deep, taking about two hours and the hole is charged with gunpowder. Premature ignition causes many injuries and fatalities. A cylinder engine raised the ore to the surface in skips on two parallel inclines, one ascending as the other was lowered.

1919 disaster

On 20 October 1919 an accident killed 31 miners, when a metal bracket at the top of a rod broke on the

man engine A man engine is a mechanism of reciprocating ladders and stationary platforms installed in Mining, mines to assist the miners' journeys to and from the working levels. It was invented in Germany in the 19th century and was a prominent feature o ...

. To use the man engine, the miners stepped on to a ladder, were transported up or down, climbed off onto a sollar, waited for the ladder to reset its position, then stepped back on to the ladder, repeating the process. The rod broke in several pieces and heavy timbers crashed down the shaft. A large scale rescue operation was able to save some of the miners. The engine was not replaced and the lower levels of the mine were abandoned.

Minerals and ores

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

bismuth Bismuth is a chemical element; it has symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens, with chemical properties resembling its lighter group 15 siblings arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth occurs nat ...

* calcspar *

aragonite Aragonite is a carbonate mineral and one of the three most common naturally occurring crystal forms of calcium carbonate (), the others being calcite and vaterite. It is formed by biological and physical processes, including precipitation fr ...

* vitreous copper ore or grey sulphuret of copper

Mineral Statistics

From Robert Hunt's ''Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom''''.''

References

External links

Levant Mine and Beam Engine information at the National Trust

Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for Levant

* {{NHLE , num=1143268 Copper mines in Cornwall Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall Grade II listed industrial buildings Industrial archaeological sites in Cornwall Mining equipment Mining museums in Cornwall National Trust properties in Cornwall 1919 disasters in the United Kingdom Preserved beam engines St Just in Penwith Steam museums in England Tin mines in Cornwall