Back in the 1960s my grandfather (who knew a thing or two about mining) told me the square chimney was the end of an arsenic burner. The other end of the flue was right down just below Wheal Kitty where there is a big patch of ground with no vegetation growing. Small boys were sent along the flue to scrape arsenic from the walls.
Those holes or engineered spaces are generally for access to the hold down bolts for whatever machinery was on the surface. the bolts went all the way down and would have had a nut on the bottom, reached through that space.
Greetings from a Cornish man and a Cornish UA-camr that knows quite a bit of history being a local. I would suggest next time you visit Cornwall do some research at the Cornish studies library REDRUTH cheer and gone
Thanks, very interesting. I am there most Easters riding my motorbike up the MCC trail on the Lands End Trial.
I do like You Tube explorations of these old mine buildings/mines and caves around Devon/Cornwall! Nice video.
Thanks Jay. Glad you enjoyed it.
Back in the 1960s my grandfather (who knew a thing or two about mining) told me the square chimney was the end of an arsenic burner. The other end of the flue was right down just below Wheal Kitty where there is a big patch of ground with no vegetation growing. Small boys were sent along the flue to scrape arsenic from the walls.
@@LittleHotels Small boys who probably never became grown men.
This was my Family's mine 3xgreat grandfather. His sons came to Australia to start mines here.
That's intriguing. You must be glad it still exists, albeit a bit of a ruin. Thank you for watching
The remote chimney stack and lengthy flue are generally associated with calciners and arsenic production.
Those holes or engineered spaces are generally for access to the hold down bolts for whatever machinery was on the surface. the bolts went all the way down and would have had a nut on the bottom, reached through that space.
Thanks for that. Solves a mystery. Would the burnt area be a modern thing?
Good informative stuff. Are the shafts still exposed or are they capped.
The ones where they know the location to are capped.
Greetings from a Cornish man and a Cornish UA-camr that knows quite a bit of history being a local. I would suggest next time you visit Cornwall do some research at the Cornish studies library REDRUTH cheer and gone
The scattering of ruined buildings were for the tin-streaming works.
The cornwall council interactive mining map is better than the scottish map imho.
Thanks Martyn, I'll have a look at it.