Hingston Downs Mine is located 1.5 miles West of Gunnislake. It worked from 1850-1917 producing: 65,710 tons Copper, 254 tons Tin, 200 tons Arsenic and 152 tons of Wolfram. The main survival is the well preserved Pumping Engine House on Bayly’s Shaft.
The site has been renovated in recent years and is in a good state of preservation. It is unusual in having a flat parapet roof with some of the original timbers in place. Also some of the windows still retain their iron frames.
The most profitable period of Hingston Downs life was during the 1850’s when a very rich Copper lode was discovered only 100ft down. The mine closed in 1885, following this the extensive dumps were re-worked by neighbouring mines.
In 1904 the mine was amalgamated into several other local mines. A brief period of mining was commenced but the mine finally closed in 1908.
A last re-working of the dumps during World War 1 recovered quantities of Copper and Wolfram.
The rest of the images on this page were taken during 2016 when I visited Hingston Downs Mine again, this time with Tracy.
The shaft here is narrow and crooked. This along with unreliable secondhand machinery added to the failure of the second re-working of the mine.