South Caradon Mine in 1843

A View of

South Caradon Mine

TeamManley

South Caradon Mine in 1843

Home Page History Time line People 1851 1863 1885 Views Maps Information sources

Webbs Hotel Liskeard in 2001.
This hotel, built in 1832, was the venue of many of the mine's meetings. Under the Cornish Stannary law cost book system two monthly meetings were held at which the purser presented the accounts. The result of the meeting was the adventures (owners) sharing the profits or meeting any debts, the "calls". The names of the owners were held in a "cost book" from which their names could be deleted after settling any outstanding calls. This simple system, served the company until 1883 when South Caradon Ltd was formed

Extract from
A compendium of British mining Watson 1843

"In the parish of St Cleer near Liskeard was originally searched for tin, and when the lode was first discovered in Caradon Hill, and found to contain a quantity of gossan, it was considered so favourable to the existence of tin, that it was with difficulty a company was formed to work it; but the messrs. Clymo who has obtained the sett, persevered and three rich copper lodes were soon opened,. The original outlay to the adventures before the mine made returns in August 1837 was only £327 8s 5d and from that time to the 31st March 1840 they sold copper ores to the amount of £15,635 10s 7d., paid all costs for machinery, including two steam engines and a whim; from that time to November, 1842 they have divided, altogether, a profit of £19,168 and are now receiving at the rate of £10,000 a year, with every prospect of greatly increasing the returns. Some mine agents have asserted that there is £150,000 worth of ore discovered in this mine; but be that as it may, the prospects are exceedingly brilliant, and not surpassed by any other mine in Cornwall. A great part of the workings are in Caradon Hill, which is 1,298 feet high. The monthly cost of working is about £18600 "

This report was written at a time when the mine was growing, but in a period when the mines in the West of Cornwall had started to suffer. It had only been seven years since the Clymo's had discovered the copper and yet the figures being stated in this report are huge. It is no wonder the mine was being described in such superlatives as "exceedingly brilliant".

The success of the mine was putting a strain on the local infrastructure. The roads proved incapable of providing the transport capacity required down to the port of Looe and a survey was commissioned in 1842 by a group of mine owners to build a railway from Caradon down to the Liskeard and Looe Canal. The route was surveyed by Robert Coad and the line was in operation by 1846.

This was a period of mass immigration of miners from the west of the Duchy. Over the next decade the population of many of the villages around was to double causing overcrowding and poor housing conditions. Drinking houses, brothels and makeshift miners camps allegedly grew up to serve the rapidly expanding workforce.
1843 was the year that the Clymo's had started the lead mining boom in nearby Menheniot with the launch of Wheal Trelawney.

This web site is published as a resource to those using the public right of way.

TeamManley

Home Page History Time line People 1851 1863 1885 Views Information sources Top