Tregurtha Downs

Tregurtha Downs is a hamlet, near Goldsithney in the parish of St Hilary, Cornwall, United Kingdom and is the name of a mine opened in 1883.[1]

Tregurtha Downs Mine

The foundation stone for a new engine house was laid on 24 August 1882.[2] The foundations and base of the 33 feet (10 m) long, 24 feet (7.3 m) wide and 90 feet (27 m) high building was built of granite blocks from a Ludgvan quarry, with the rest of the structure built of stones from nearby Trevabyn quarries. 50 feet (15 m) from the engine house, a 90 feet (27 m) high stack with walls 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) thick at ground level, tapering to 1 foot 10 inches (0.56 m) at the top, was built from the same stone, to give draught to four large boilers which supplies steam for the 80-inch pumping engine. The engine was made at Copperhouse, by Sandys, Vivian and Co and previously worked in mines at Crenver and Abraham in the parish of Crowan.[3] It was christened ″St Aubyn″ after one of the directors, William Molesworth-St Aubyn, MP for Helston, when it was first fired on 27 March 1883.[3]

By July 1883, Tregurtha and Owen Vean were producing 5 tons of tin a month and in June 1884 an estimated 80 tons of tinstone could be crushed every 24 hours with the opening of the new stamps.[4] [5] The following year the mine was amalgamated with Owen Vean and on 18 April 1885 the mine closed and was put up for sale; forty to fifty men, unpaid for many weeks, were out of work causing hardship for their families.[6] The 80-inch pumping engine and other machinery was put up for auction on 19 June 1885.[7]