Great Wheal Charlotte

Tin mining in Cornwall can be traced back to medieval times and much earlier still; the tin was usually obtained from stream sediments or from freshly mined ore using open cast techniques. In the sixteenth century through to the eighteenth this was mostly carried out part-time by a land occupier and his family, or tenants, to supplement an income from farming or from a smallholding. Copper was produced in the seventeenth century, largely as a by-product of tin extraction, but grew rapidly during the eighteenth century, with many full-time mines opening as a result of a newfound ability to pump water from deep shafts through the use of steam power. British coins were first minted using…

abandoned mine]] Great Wheal Charlotte is on the South West Coast Path and was purchased by the National Trust in 1956. The mine ruins are contained within a larger area owned by the National Trust that includes the sandy cove at Chapel Porth and hillsides and clifftops surrounding it. Access to Great Wheal Charlotte can be made from a National Trust car park at Chapel Porth with a relatively short, but steep, climb onto the heathland and spoil scree above. Alternatively, a path leads from the beach at Porthtowan directly across the cliff tops, a walk of about 1.5 km. In addition to Great Wheal Charlotte, Wheal Coates mine lies directly to the north of Chapel Porth, with its own car park a…