Save Historic Cornish Mining Headframe

King Edward Mine Museum dates from the 19th century. Most of the equipment has been restored to working order.

The buildings are all Grade II* listed and are of National importance. The site forms part of the UNESCO Mining World Heritage Area of Cornwall. The Trustees have long wished to build a replica headframe and sheave wheel as this would enable the entire history of the mine to be demonstrated.

As the practical teaching centre for Camborne School of Mines (CSM), students used their own underground mine from 1897. Unfortunately, when the underground workings were flooded, the wooden headframe above Engine Shaft fell into disuse and was dismantled in 1931.

An opportunity was presented to the Trustees of King Edward Mine (KEM) by the owner of one of the last remaining wooden headframes in Cornwall. The headframe was originally built at Geevor and erected at Cligga Head (near St Agnes) in 1962. From there it was moved to Nangiles (Wheal Jane area), then to Wheal Concord (Skinners Bottom) in 1980. This site later became the home of Cornish Firewood, which is owned by Jason Thomas, and it is the Thomas family who have offered a long-term loan to enable the headframe to be renovated and installed at KEM. It is one of the last remaining wooden headframes in Cornwall, and was at risk of collapse before we stepped in.

Duchy Demolition dismantled the headframe and transported it to KEM. They did an excellent job! Careful dismantling of the headframe took the company four days (August 21st 24th 2023).

Many photographs were taken before and during the dismantling, and each piece of timber was labelled as it was taken down. As planned, it was necessary to cut some of the timbers and remove all of the steelwork, but the two main side pieces were the last pieces standing and these were removed whole. The winder wheel, which still turns, and the king plate were also successfully removed for renovation.

This is a rare chance to erect a historic headframe at King Edward Mine, to be installed over the capped Engine Shaft.

King Edward Mine is open to the public every summer and hosts many visits by local primary schools and acts as a hub for Cornish mining heritage.

Through our work, we are actively involved in encouraging young people to follow a mineral industry career. This is being achieved with programmes such as Cornwall Schools Mining Games and CSM students’ use of King Edward Mine to train and host the International Mining Games.

As a small charity run entirely by volunteers, the Trustees of KEM do not underestimate the size of the project to re-erect over Engine Shaft but are confident that this can be done safely and in a timely manner as long as sufficient funds are available.

The headframe would be adjacent to the original working Holman Steam Winder (1908) that was used to raise ore. It is felt that this headframe is such an important part of Cornish mining history that it is essential for it to be preserved at a mine site and available for the benefit of the people of Cornwall.

Having a replica headframe over the shaft will help volunteer guides explain to visitors, students and schoolchildren how the ore was transferred from underground. This was done by hoisting the ore from the shaft using the unique Holman Steam Winder, transporting to the top of the Mill Building to be crushed and processed in the working Cornish Tin Mill.

This is a rare moment to preserve Cornish mining heritage that only arises once every few decades. Help us to bring this important piece of history alive in the best-preserved mine site in Cornwall.

If you have any questions, please contact;

Jon Mason

Trustee

Carol Richards

Trustee

Links are through our website. www.kingedwardmine.co.uk