Wendron Mining Area, Cornwall

Wendron Mining District has one of the longest histories of tin working of any district in Cornwall . By the 1580's underground mining was well advanced within the District when it was recorded that two of the three most important tin mines in Kerrier were Roselidden, later part of the Trumpet Consols group, and Porkellis Mine. The number of recorded mineral ventures within Wendron is 640.

1779 Wendron Parish was the most populated mining district with 9,000 inhabitants - Camborne, Redruth and Illogan, considered by many the most important mining districts, had a combined population of 4,400 demonstrating that Wendron was still the most important mining district.

Sites overlying and immediately surrounding the Tregonning granite tended to yield tin, whilst the majority of the mines to the north and west were important early copper producers. Many of these rich but often shallow copper mines had already been abandoned by the 1840’s.

Only two books have been published on the mining industry of the District: Wendron Tin by A.K. Hamilton Jenkin (commissioned by Poldark Mine) 1978 and The Tin Streamers of Wendron by Justin Brooke 1994. The District was missing from Hamilton Jenkin's series 'The Mines and Miners of Cornwall'.

Mines and Mining in Cornwall