The 80 inch cylinder Cornish Beam engine operated from 1908 to 1955, pumping from over 1200 feet depth. It was the last beam engine to pump water from a Cornish mine. It soon became derelict, and subject to vandalism, but a grant from the National Lottery has enabled the Heartland's project to regenerate the whole site, and it is hoped that in a couple of year's time the area will be open to the public, and the beam engine will run again, driven by steam.
On the left, I am pictured with Ron Hooper, ex-head of surveying at CSM, Sheila Parker, widow of Roger Parker, ex-vice-principal, and John Shrimpton, ex-head of mining.
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It was lovely to see so many old friends and colleagues yesterday at the visit to the old CSM site and Robinson's shaft. Hope we can get together again soon. Linda x
ReplyDeleteIt was a great day, and thanks for organising it Linda. You're a treasure!
ReplyDeleteLuv Barry
Yes, the whole day was very interesting. We had a tour of the former CSM building (now called Berlewen Building). It was great to see John Woodward manufacturing Cornish ranges and Victorian railings in what used to be the pilot plant www.jw-eng.co.uk/. The old academic block is occupied by 5 public sector organisations including CPR Regeneration (Camborne Pool Redruth). They all said that the building is due for demolition, so some of the labs are looking pretty sad, but good to see hundreds of musical instruments in the old vent lab for Cornwall Music Service. We had a tour of the new Pool Innovation Centre, a £12m building opening in July 2010 to provide serviced office units for high-tech small business. Finally, we had a tour around 'Heartlands', £22m lottery-funded project to create parks, water-features, open space , a visitor centre and apartments on the derelict land behind Robinsons. It was wonderful to see so many former colleagues. Let's do something similar next year! Carol
ReplyDeleteWasn't Rob's the one that went through a stope? What was the one they slashed out the raise to surface at Tuckingmill?
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