Geevor Mine Treweek’s Shaft

Geevor Mine Treweek’s Shaft: This shaft was originally part of the Boscaswell Mine sett. In the 1960’s it was decided by Geevor to recondition the shaft to provide a secondary exit to the mine. Also it would enable continued exploration to the old sett and possible lodes to the north east.

To this end the shaft was cleared and re-timbered to a depth of approximately 800ft, a new headframe and winder were subsequently installed along with a compressor plant.

Geevor Mine Treweek's Shaft
Treweek’s Shaft Code of Signals. Photograph reproduced here from www.gracesguide.co.uk/

After closure the shaft area was cleared with the headframe being scrapped. The buildings are still in situ and owned by a local farmer, it is on private land.

Geevor Mine Treweek's Shaft
Geevor Mine Treweek’s Shaft 1 – The winder house for Treweek’s shaft, now used by the farmer to store his vehicles.
Geevor Mine Treweek's Shaft
Geevor Mine Treweek’s Shaft 2 – After closure the winder was removed for scrap. All the mountings were later filled in by the landowner.
Geevor Mine Treweek's Shaft
Geevor Mine Treweek’s Shaft 3 – The remains of the compressor house.
Geevor Mine Treweek's Shaft
Geevor Mine Treweek’s Shaft 4 – The compressor house viewed from the other side, the large windows were a feature of the site, all the buildings still retain them.
Geevor Mine Treweek's Shaft
Geevor Mine Treweek’s Shaft 5 – The front elevation of the compressor house, this contained a BOP 10 compressor.
Geevor Mine Treweek's Shaft
Geevor Mine Treweek’s Shaft 6 – This image shows the remains of the shaft collar. The base support girders for the headframe can still be seen.
Geevor Mine Treweek's Shaft
Geevor Mine Treweek’s Shaft 7 – A final image of the site taken from Treweek’s Road.
The following images are all contemporary photographs taken whilst the site was active. They have been supplied by Bob Orchard along with his permission for their use. This is an exception for me as the only images on the site are my own, however I thought the historical importance of these more than justifies their inclusion.
Geevor Mine Treweek's Shaft
Geevor Mine Treweek’s Shaft 8 – The steel headframe over Treweek’s Shaft, the shaft had been reconditioned to a depth of 800ft. The shaft was slightly off vertical so the guide rails were at an angle. (1992)

A few words kindly written by Gary Parrott an ex-Geevor Miner who did some time in Treweek’s when it was operating.

My knowledge of it is a little vague; but I worked on 1200 foot level of Treweeks with Nic Eypes when his partner was on leave for a week. My mate Erroll Boase was off sick and my stope needed tramming due to a hung up hole.

We would minibus over from Victory Shaft and then descend the curved shaft, no exaggeration it was like a banana and everyone lent on each other during the trip.
The stope on 12 Treweeks was high in value but seriously bad ground. It would drill quick due to mineralisation but the holes needed a lot of blowing out and clearing to charge, some would almost be unchargeable. Needless to say high wages could not easily be achieved.

I did some preparation for pillar recovery on 10 Treweeks with Brian Nic Nicholas. We cleared and shored up the level one weekend with 4×4 and filled over with boards. The following weekend that timber was shattered like matchsticks. Really bad ground and recovery was abandoned.
Cornish Mine Images
Cornish Mine Images 9 – The gates to the shaft.
Cornish Mine Images
Cornish Mine Images 10 – Looking along the wall of the compressor house to the headframe and the winder house in the background. The compressed air receiver is in the foreground.
Cornish Mine Images
Cornish Mine Images 11 – Another image of the air receiver.
Cornish Mine Images
Cornish Mine Images 12 – The site as it looked until the early 1990’s. The wire rope to the top of the headframe can be seen.

Once again,many thanks to Bob Orchard for allowing me to publish these images, and for all the time he gave to help me with all the Geevor Mine pages.

Geevor Mine Wethered’s Shaft

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