Day Five – Part Three: Botallack – Geevor Tin Mine | West Cornwall Fully Loaded Cycle Tour 2020
This was my second cycle touring trip of 2020 after my ‘warm-up’ trip to Telford the month before (I say warm-up because it was my first trip out of town whilst we were dealing with the Covid crisis and was a good insight into seeing how cycle/camping worked under these conditions). I had planned to cycle around the South West Peninsula of Cornwall from Penzance to St Ives and along the coastline camping as I go.
Along the way I visited some of Cornwall’s most fascinating historic spots including the Porthcurno Museum of Global Communications formally the Porthcurno Telegraph Station, or PK, where the first international telegraph cable was brought ashore and was the World’s most important station during the late Victorian era and also Geevor Tin Mine, formerly North Levant Mine, which was operational between 1911 and 1990 and is now museum and heritage centre left as a living history of a working tin mine.
There was so much to say about this trip but as usual I’m going to let the photos tell the story and also the captions for each one and I can throughly recommend cycling/hiking around this area as there is so much history left in place to see!
Enjoy! 😀
At the entrance to 'The Dry' (the miners clocking in/out, changing rooms etc.) you will find the site foreman's office with original documents and desks intactTo tour Geevor Tin Mine you must wear a safety hat which add's to the whole experience - your's truly as a miner for the day!The famous 'clocking in/out' room that also leads to the changing roomsImagine the hustle and bustle of this room when the mine was in full swing!A genuine clocking in/out machine - this is timeless history right here!Margaret Thatcher and miners did not see eye to eye as this classic poster from the time showsClassic Maxpax coffee and tea machines in the changing roomsIf these changing rooms could talk. Walking around these rooms was kinda eerie in a way, the lived in feeling of these lockers, stickers still on them, clothing and boots scattered around, it's as if the place was stuck in time, a good thing I might add!Information plaque: SAD CRUEL APRIL 1986Miners photo: Dougie Rowe and John Gendall, Victory ShaftMiner photo: Stuart Keast (Beaky)Miners photo: Drilling in the mineGreevor Miners & Staff Reunion 2009 & 2010Some of the original stickers stuck on the locker doors in the miners changing roomsDrying roomThe showers - now I bet some stories were shared here!The door at the end in this photo leads to a short corridor which end's up at the main hoisting shaft, miners coming up from the tunnels would pass miners waiting to go down to themInformation plaque: The Mill at workHere the public could have a go at separating the Tin Ore from Mine Rocks, it was closed at the time I was thereThe picking belt where any rock that did not contain any mineral was removed by handInformation plaque: Picking BeltShaking Tables used to Separate Tin Ore from Mined RocksInformation plaque: Shaking TablesPart of the grinding machineryInformation plaque: Grinding MillThese two ball mill machines tumble the ore with heavy steel balls to break down the orePoem about Botallack Mine which is just up the coast from Geevor Tin Mine
