09 Caradon
This rugged, windswept and mostly treeless Area sits high up in a remote corner of Bodmin Moor. Rising dramatically from the surrounding plain, the granite dome of Caradon Hill dominates the Area and is encircled by engine houses, chimney stacks, thousands of tonnes of waste rock from the various mines and quarries, and the trackbed of the Liskeard & Caradon Railway. This is a story of boom and bust: the rise of copper mining here established new settlements and expanded others, but the explosion of mining activity within this formerly isolated landscape was to last barely 50 years; large-scale mining for copper had essentially ceased by 1890.
Highlights
• Walking on open access land along the old Liskeard & Caradon Railway (built to transport copper-ore southwards to the port of Looe), with its mostly level surface, stunning views and striking reminders of its industrial past.
• Watching the sunset from the top of Caradon Hill, looking west across the golden moors and Siblyback Lake.
Mining Heritage I
n Cornish mining terms, this Area was a late starter. Although it had a long history of tin streaming and shallow mining, it was the copper riches discovered at South Caradon Mine in 1836 that sparked a mining boom and the rapid development of the district. Unusually, the copper found was within the granite of
Caradon Hill, giving the Area international mineralogical significance. Operated from 1836 to the late 1880s, the whole process
from discovery to final closure barely lasted half a century. During this time, railways, tramways, mines, roads and quarries were built, and the previously sparsely populated moorland hosted thousands of mine workers and their fami- lies, who lived in new or greatly expanded settlements of ter- raced cottages, chapels and schools (e.g. Darite, Pensilva and Minions, the latter formerly known as Cheesewring Railway). Men from the declining mines in other parts of Cornwall flocked to the district, but left as soon as the mines closed. However, the Area’s remote location has ensured the exceptional survival of its mining sites.
Sites within the district Click on the site to find out more.
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Liskeard and District Museum For travel information click here.
• Visiting the Prince of Wales Shaft at Phoenix United Mine, built for the last big pumping engine made in Cornwall (1907). It’s an impressive and distinctive landmark with great views across the countryside. Nearby, the Houseman’s engine house, part of South Phoenix Mine, is now partially restored as the Minions Heritage Centre—well worth a visit.
• Exploring the well-preserved cobbled floors of South Caradon Mine at the bottom of the Seaton Valley, where hundreds of women and children used to dress copper ore. The towering bleached white waste dumps either side are a striking testament to the scale of operations beneath this moorland landscape.
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Did you know? Copper mining at Caradon brought thousands of mine workers to the district almost overnight.
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