EAST WHEAL ROSE ENGINE HOUSE
In 1846 over 1,200 men, women and children were employed in the mine at East
Wheal Rose. In those days the valley would have been filled with the sounds
of ore being dressed (broken up), wagons rolling in and out, steam engines hissing
and whistling, and the general hubbub of so many people at work. In an age before
television, this scene was the wonder of the neighbourhood and a favourite place
for Sunday excursions.
By today's standards, Cornish mines of the last century were neglectful of any
concern for safety. In 1842, a foolhardy young miner fell thirty fathoms (180
feet or fifty-five metres) to his death down a shaft at Wheal Towan. A local
newspaper the West Briton, noted that there had been 'two men working a few
fathoms below the mouth of the same shaft on single planks, and how the deceased
passed them in his fall (without knocking them off) is most extraordinary'.
For further information on the East Wheal Rose Engine House Click here To read
about the mine disaster of 1846 Click here