History
History of King Edward Mine and former South Condurrow Mine
We are currently making audio guides for some of our exhibits. Here is the beta test version of our first guide for the Boiler House.
Early Mining History at South Condurrow Mine
King Edward Mine is at the eastern part of the South Condurrow Mine.
Originally worked as under the name of Old Tye, South Condurrow was reopened in 1844 together with Great Condurrow about 300m to the north. It was renamed South Condurrow Mine in 1850 and worked for many years before producing any profitable tin in 1864. South Condurrow experienced major problems with flooding, especially during 1872.
The discovery of the Great Flat Lode in the 1870s was a huge boost to the area's mines and lead to South Condurrow paying a dividend for the first time in 1875. The mine continued to pay annual dividends until 1893 and finally closed in 1896.
Camborne School of Mines Practical Teaching Centre
The Camborne School of Mines (CSM) was established in 1887. In the late 19th century, students spent some of their time doing practical mining and tin dressing work in the local tin mines with some of the academic classes held in the evenings.
Unfortunately, the local mining industry was almost in terminal decline and the surviving mines were falling behind technically. This was hardly ideal from the instruction point of view. The only real solution was for the School to have its own underground mine.
In 1897, CSM took over, and subsequently developed, the abandoned eastern part of the South Condurrow Mine, renamed King Edward Mine in 1901.
King Edward Mine was completely re-equipped, both on surface and underground by CSM, with modern machinery reflecting what was then considered the best Cornish practice. All of the buildings from that period have survived to this day.
For a small college like Camborne School of Mines to take on a mine on this scale was a massive undertaking and is probably unprecedented in mining education. The re-equipping started almost immediately in 1897, and the School purchased a Holman Bros compressor, capable of driving two rock-drills. A new Survey office was built, and a new head-frame erected above Engine Shaft.
The Californian Stamps were purchased from Fraser & Chalmers in 1900 and a new building constructed around them.
The set of Californian Stamps at King Edward Mine was made by Messrs Fraser and Chalmers of East Kent, under license and came from the Paris Exposition of 1900. The building that houses the stamps was specially constructed to house them and is now Grade II* listed.
Californian Stamps are now very rare and ours are believed to be the only working set remaining in Europe.
The original Holman Winder went into service at King Edward Mine in 1908, a 10 inch by 15 inch coupled geared twin drum steam hoist. The Holman Winder was used for raising ore from the shaft below the headframe. We believe that this is the only Holman Winding Engine left in the world.
n 1880 John and James Holman (Holman Bros.) were offered the designs of a new rock drill by James McCulloch. The brothers filed a joint patent with McCulloch, and began to manufacture the new drill. It became known as the "Cornish Rock Drill", and achieved great commercial success. The demand grew rapidly and Holman were soon supplying the world market. At King Edward Mine, we have an exhibition of the history of Holman's and examples of Holman equipment.
Mining Education at King Edward Mine
Between 1893 and 1906, John Charles Burrow and others took remarkable (and now famous) underground and surface photos of the students, making this one of the most photographed mine in the world at the time. Many of the photographs are in the Royal Cornwall Museum and are described in the book King Edward Mine: An Illustrated Account of Underground and Surface Operations 1897-2001 by Tony Brooks and John Watton
available in the museum shop.
Students were soon drawn not just from Cornwall and the UK but from the world over. Camborne became, and still is, one of the best-known mining colleges in the world. It was intended that the tin produced would cover most of the teaching costs. The mine regularly produced tin up until World War 1 when operations were suspended.
By 1920 King Edward Mine was back in production. This was short-lived for in 1921 the adjacent deeper Grenville Mine stopped working. As the two mines were interconnected, the consequent flooding of Grenville also flooded the King Edward workings. Underground operations, on a much-reduced scale, were transferred to a dry shallow section the Great Condurrow Mine to the north.
At this time, many Cornish Mines closed, and their equipment was sold for scrap and their buildings fell in to disuse and dereliction. There are few examples in Cornwall of working machinery in their original buildings.
However, the surface area of King Edward Mine was retained and used for teaching mining, ore dressing and surveying. The remainder of the lecturing continued to be carried out at the main campus in Camborne.
In 1974 the pilot plant and most of the lecturing in mining, ore dressing, and management moved to the main School of Mines Building in Trevenson,
The mill complex at King Edward Mine was no longer needed and it became a store.
However, the CSM Summer Survey Course continued until recently. The surveying lecturer, the late Ron 'Hoops' Hooper taught at King Edward Mine for 37 years, based in the historic Survey Office. His prowess in teaching has been shown throughout his career by the respect shown to him and his teaching of surveying by hundreds of past students.
CSM moved from Trevenson to a new campus in Penryn in 2004.
Restoration of the Mill and Core Mine Buildings
In 1987 a volunteer group was formed with the objective to conserve the site as an educational resource for the future and to operate it in a manner that benefits the local community.
Using rescued machinery the mill has been restored to working condition much as it would have been in the early years of the last century.
The Holman Winding Engine was re-installed in its original 1908 location. Although the Winder House itself had been burnt down in a fire in 1957, in 2010 a new replica building was built around the winding machinery, winning an award from the Cornwall Buildings Group. The Holman Winding Engine is now fully operational using air from a compressor donated by the Friends of King Edward Mine.
In the Mill, the Californian Stamps were re-built together with dipper wheels and classifiers. A rare Cornish Round Frame was donated by the Trevithick Society and this was assembled and installed in the exact position of the original. One of the early volunteers, Willie Uren, re-created a set of Rag Frames from memory. These are not thought to exist anywhere else in the world. A sand table and slimes table were installed and form part of the tin processing cycle in the Mill. The restoration of the Frue Vanner continues and this is also thought to be the last of its kind in the world.
Restoration of King Edward Mine Site
King Edward Mine is now owned by Cornwall Council.
In December 2012 the Architectural Heritage Fund’s (AHF) Challenge Fund for Historic Buildings at Risk, generously funded by English Heritage and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, offered a grant to KEM Ltd to part-fund the conservation and adaptive reuse of the Assay Office complex as a new café for King Edward Mine. This opened in 2017.
In 2015, the Count house and the Carpenters shop historic buildings were restored to commercial use, funded by Cornwall Council and the European Regional Development Fund. The Count House has six office suites and the Carpenters Workshop has three workshop units. Funding included a grant from the National Lottery of £1.1 million.
In 2017, the historic Boiler House was saved and turned into a further exhibition space. The Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, officially opened the new work units and Boiler House Exhibition by unveiling a commemorative plaque.
Continuing Educational Use for King Edward Mine 2020
The links with practical education continue. CSM students use the site as the permanent home for International Mining Games training. Events such as Swede Saw, Drilling, Track laying, Mucking, Hand Steeling and Gold Panning are practiced regularly on the site. In 2012 and 2018, the games were hosted at King Edward Mine and attracted thousands of visitors from around the world.
In 2018 and 2019, King Edward Mine hosted the Cornwall Schools Mining Games where Year 8 pupils from local schools were able to compete in practical events related to mining - see Video.
King Edward Mine has been able to welcome many school visits and hopes to be able to continue to provide educational facilities for young people.
Take a look at the King Edward Mine Youtube Channel by clicking the red arrow below.
There are instructional videos about the Cornish Tin Mill, and also about the ecology of the site and Cornwall Schools Mining Games.
Telephone 01209 614681 (during museum opening times)
Registered Charity Number 1149801