page_title: St Agnes, Cornwall
section_title: Mining
hierarchical_section_title: St Agnes, Cornwall / Economy / Mining
caption_attribution_description: English: Clifftop Tower. I do not know the purpose of this unadorned tower. If it were a daymark for sailors I would have expected it to be painted white. In the 19th century this area of the cliff was heavily mined and the chimneys of mine engine houses would have been prominent landmarks from sea. It is possible that the tower was built to replace those, although this is just an idea. In the distance can be seen St Agnes Head and Beacon. Another contributor has added the following comments "This is a chimney. The long flue can be seen entering the base from the left. Arsenic deposits were removed from the inside of the flue".
context_page_description: St Agnes is a civil parish and a large village on the north coast of Cornwall, England, UK. The village is about five miles north of Redruth and ten miles southwest of Newquay. An electoral ward exists stretching as far south as Blackwater. The population at the 2011 census was 7,565.
  The village of St Agnes, a popular coastal tourist spot, lies on a main road between Redruth and Perranporth. It was a prehistoric and modern centre for mining of copper, tin and arsenic until the 1920s. Local industry has also included farming and fishing, and more recently tourism.
  The St Agnes district has a heritage of industrial archaeology and much of the landscape is of considerable geological interest. There are also stone-age remains in the parish. The manor of Tywarnhaile was one of the 17 Antiqua maneria of the Duchy of Cornwall.
context_section_description: Cornwall, along with its neighbouring county of Devon, was an important source of tin for Europe and the Mediterranean throughout ancient times, but began dominating the market during late Roman times in the 3rd century AD with the exhaustion of many Spanish tin mines. Cornwall maintained its importance as a source of tin throughout medieval times and into the modern period.
  At their height about 100 mines employed 1000 miners. Mining came to an end in the 1920s and many of these mines are still on view for tourists. United Hills mine produced 86,500 tons of copper ore, 1826–1906; and Wheal Towan 54,610 tons, 1800-31. Lesser quantities of black tin were produced from these mines: West Wheal Kitty 10,070 tons (1881–1915); Wheal Kitty 9,510 tons (1853–1918); Polberro 4,300 tons (1837–95); Penhalls 3,610 tons (1834–96); and Blue Hills 2,120 tons (1858–97). Much of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a World Heritage Site, is in the parish. Tin production is still worked at the Blue Hills Tin Streams 
  Wheal Coates was the site of medieval mining between 1066 and 1540, and it was a modern mining producer from 1802 and into the 20th century. The visible remains of Wheal Coates are the engine houses built in the 1870s to crush ore, run a Calciner, or pump water. The sites, owned by the National Trust, include the Whim Engine House, Towanroath Pumping Engine House and the Calciner.  Before that the Jericho valley, where Blue Hills Tin Streams operated, had supported mining operations for centuries. At Chapel Coombe a set of old Cornish stamps has been re-erected by the Trevithick Society. Stippy Stappy is a row of 18th century cottages on a very steep incline.
caption: Clifftop Tower. In the distance are St Agnes Head and Beacon.
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