Photo © William Wallis

If you want to explore some of Cornwall's mining past, then you can take in this 7½ mile trail through the former tin and copper mining belt around Redruth and Camborne. It's a circular trail, partly on the Cornish Way cycle route, and explores one of the greatest concentrations of historic mine buildings anywhere in the world.

The southern section has the best preserved mine sites, many with sweeping views to Carn Brea and beyond to the north coast. They date from a mid-19th century tin mining boom, and their good state of repair is due to the late working and the recent conservation work. Although tranquil today, the scene would have been much different 120 years ago with thousands of miners toiling underground, and the continuous noise from the heavy stamps crushing the ore.

Copper and Tin and the Great Flat Lode
How did the Great Flat Lode get its name? A lode is a vein of ore, in this case of tin. It was called 'flat' because the angle of the lode was not as steep as most Cornish lodes.

Between the late 16th century and about 1870, mining in the area concentrated on the copper deposits overlying the Great Flat Lode. It was only when these deposits were becoming exhausted that some of the miners went deeper and discovered the high-grade tin ore. Wheal Bassett from 1832 to 1880 produced over 128,000 tons of copper ore before striking the rich tin deposits of the Great Flat Lode.

Between South Wheal Frances and Wheal Bassett, the Trail follows the line of the Bassett Tramroad, built to carry tin ore for processing at Wheal Bassett Stamps. Large lumps of ore were broken down to fist size by stonecrushers and then fed to the stamps to be crushed to a fine sand. To isolate the tin particles from the 98% waste, the ore was then treated in vanners and buddles before being calcined to remove arsenic and other impurities. Finally, the refined ore was smelted; in this case at Seleggan, which is just a short detour from the main Trail.

At the major mine sites around the Trail, there are information boards giving a greater insight into the areas mining history. Cornwall's history is steeped in copper and tin mining and this an excellent way to look at part of the mining heritage of this area of the UK.

Information Cornwall County Council