Grenville United Mines, this is a page of two mines, Condurrow and Wheal Grenville. They both merged in 1906 to form the Grenville United Mines. Between them over the course of their lives they produced over 31,000 tons of Tin from working the Great Flat Lode. The mining group worked until 1921 when a crash in the Tin Prices forced closure.
The images on this page were taken during 1995 for use in Bob Acton’s book Exploring Cornish Mines Vol 2.
Grenville United Mines 1 – Marshall’s Engine House of South Condurrow Mine, it was built during 1886 to house a 60″ Pumping Engine. The shaft was sunk during 1881 reaching a final depth of just over 1000ft. The engine remained in the house until 1923 when it was scrapped.Grenville United Mines 2 – The Whim taken through the boiler house doorway of Marshall’s Pumping Engine House.Grenville United Mines 3 – A side view of Marshall’s 26″ Whim Engine House, strapping on the wall can be clearly seen.Grenville United Mines 4 – Another image of the Engine House taken looking across the front loadings.
To reach the next site, walk over the road and up the hill to see the New Stamps Engine House.
Grenville United Mines 5 – The New Stamps Engine House of Wheal Grenville. This was built during the 1890’s. The engine here drove 136 heads of Cornish Stamps to break the ore, the noise must have been extraordinary.Grenville United Mines 6 – Another image of the Stamps House at Wheal Grenville Mine, it held a 36″ engine. The roof line of the Boiler House can be seen on the wall.Grenville United Mines 7 – The Engine House loadings, also the deep slot for the flywheel can clearly be seen.Grenville United Mines 8 – The foundations for the flywheel that drove the heads of stamps. Also in the distance are the two Engine Houses on Fortescue’s shaft of Grenville United.Cornish Mine Images 9 – The Stamps engine House from the front, the massive loadings for the stamps flywheels are in front. The raised brickwork at the front of the loadings was for an auxiliary pumping beam which supplied water to the dressing floors of Wheal Grenville.
On the site there is quite a rare survival. There is a wall that belonged to Frue Vanner House. The Frue vanner has a continuous rubber belt 4 feet wide and 27½ feet long passed over rollers to form the surface of an inclined plane on which the orestuff was concentrated. The belt travelled up hill at from 3 to 12 feet per minute while being laterally shaken about 180 to 200 times.
The inclination of the belt was from 4 to 12 in. per 12 feet. The belt received crushed orestuff from the stamps via a distributor about 4 feet from its upper end. As it travelled upwards, it met with small jets of water which gradually washed the gangue off the bottom of the belt.
As the belt travelled over the top roller with the heavier ore adhering to it, it passed into a box containing water where the ore was deposited. From 3 to 6 gallons per minute of water was required. One machine could treat 6 tons per 24 hours of stuff passing a 40 mesh screen.
Cornish Mine Images 10 – The surviving wall of the Frue Vanner House dated 1900.Cornish Mine Images 11 -The wall bears three plaques, this one over the doorway is WG (Wheal Grenville) 1900.Cornish Mine Images 12 -The Cornish motto “One and All” on this plaque.Cornish Mine Images 13 -The final plaque bears the Mine Managers name C.F Bishop.
So a short walk down the hill leads to Fortescue’s Shaft Wheal Grenville. A fantastic arrangement of a classic pair of Engine Houses. The massive pumping engine house contained a 90″ engine.
Cornish Mine Images 14 -These are the two Engine Houses at Fortescue’s Shaft Wheal Grenville. The closer engine house was for a 28″ Whim Engine, the larger in the distance housed the 90″ Pumping Engine.Cornish Mine Images 15 -The huge 90″ Pumping Engine House at Fortescue’s Shaft. The shaft here is 2370ft deep on the underlie, the engine was built during 1872 by Harvey’s of Hayle. There was an attempt to reopen the shaft during the 1960’s to reach sections of the Great Flat Lode that were believed not to have been worked. But this venture sadly failed.Cornish Mine Images 16 -The 28″ Winding Engine House at Fortescue’s Shaft.Cornish Mine Images 17 -The sad remains of Gould’s 80″ Engine House built during 1878, the shaft here was 1440ft deep. Sadly demolished by the landowner who considered it unsafe.
