Skinners Pumping Engine House Clitters Mine Cornwall

by Richard Brookes

Title

Skinners Pumping Engine House Clitters Mine Cornwall

Artist

Richard Brookes

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Photograph

Description

The ghostly, poignant ruins of the abandoned Gunnislake Clitters Mine are almost hidden in the undergrowth and forested slopes of Clitters Wood high above the banks of the River Tamar, near Gunnislake, Calstock parish, Tamar Valley, SE Cornwall, SW England, UK. It was a really dull overcast day with drizzle so the sky has blown out white but I quite liked the contrast with the ruined building.

According to various web sources:

This is the pumping engine house, one of three overgrown and derelict engine houses at the Skinner's Shaft complex which were built 1862-64 to house steam engines for pumping, winding and ore crushing. Extraction, crushing and primary dressing activities were focused around this shaft which was sunk deep into the main lode to a depth of some 500m.

The main export route for the mine's ore in the 1860s-1880s was a track from the lower dressing floors to the riverside and on to the head of the Tamar Navigation at Gunnislake.

The mine sett was leased from the mineral owners the Duke of Cornwall and the Rev. H. W. Bedford. The area was extensively mined over the last centuries. As mining techniques and technology improved deeper lodes could be reached.

There is evidence of post medieval open pit or lode back mines in this area. This mine opened in 1820 but the main period of production was between 1860 and 1890. Records of production for the mine were: 1822 to 1827 - 40 tons of copper ore. 1860-69 to 1902-20s - 33,310 tons of 8.25% copper ore and 510 tons of black tin. Latterly, in the 1900s a reprocessing mill was built nearby where new electrically powered equipment and better capturing techniques were used to recover more ore and also arsenic and wolfram (for tungsten) by reworking the existing mine spoil heaps.

The mine worked a number of lodes, the major ones being: Bonney Lode (also known as No.1 Lode); Skinners Lode; New Tin Lode; No.2 or South Lode; and Greenstone Lode. These lodes were worked from mainly Skinner's Shaft on Bonney Lode and New Shaft on South Lode.

The mine is a protected Schedule II listed monument. The area is also recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape (number 1215), falling within Callington Mining District. The pioneering industrial developments, innovations and techniques used in this area were hugely important to the Industrial Revolution and exported all over the world. Taken on a dull, wet January day.

Uploaded

August 22nd, 2021

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