An invitation to 'Walk with Poldark' after Physical Separation '19

Cornwall has a very rich mining heritage, once being the world's largest producer of copper, and then tin. Life in the deep mines of the 19th century was extremely arduous, but the skills that the hard-rock miners acquired led Cornwall to be regarded as the ‘birthplace of modern mining’.

In Cornish mining's heyday in the mid-19th century, upgrading of ore, particularly of the tin ores, was achieved by physical separation methods, hand sorting and simple gravity techniques, the only available methods at the time. So it is appropriate that MEI's Physical Separation '19 will be held in Cornwall, Falmouth being only 8 miles from the Gwennap Parish, once the "richest square mile on earth" due to its abundant copper deposits.

On the final afternoon of Physical Separation '19 delegates will be coached 13 miles for a short visit to the ruins of Wheal Peevor in the historic Camborne-Redruth area (see posting of 1st July 2018).

On Saturday June 15th, delegates and partners staying on in Falmouth are invited to join the Walking with Poldark tour, organised by Cornish Lithium Ltd, a wonderful 6 mile walk on Cornwall’s rugged north coast, in the area where most of the mining scenes for the BBC series Poldark were filmed.

We will be picked up from the Falmouth Maritime Museum on Saturday morning and coached the 35 miles to the extreme west of Cornwall, passing through the town of Penzance.

The walk commences at the old Geevor Tin Mine, passing Levant Mine, then proceeds along the coast to the famous Crowns engine houses at Botallack, passing the ruins of the ‘buddles’, stamps and arsenic works and the ruin of the Wheal Owles engine house, where most of the mining activity in the TV series was filmed. This is the area of Cornwall’s submarine mines, which worked far out under the Atlantic Ocean.

Levant Mine

Crowns Engine Houses, Botallack

The remains of the Botallack arsenic works

West Wheal Owles

We will then continue to Cape Cornwall, where the coach will be waiting for us to take us to Zennor for lunch in the local inn.

Approaching Cape Cornwall

In the afternoon it is hoped to arrange an underground tour of an old 19th century tin mine. I will post more details of this when available.

There will be a nominal fee of £25 for this day out, collectable on the coach. Book your place here.

I have walked this stretch of coastline many times and can vouch for it being an opportunity much too good to be missed if you are able to stay on after the conference.

Updates on Physical Separation '19 can be found at #PhysicalSeparation19.