A little mining history

Just to remind us that the ground
was contaminated with arsenic.

A trip last night across the River Tamar into Devon to take part in a guided walking tour organised by our local history group. On a lovely sunny evening, we visited the site of the Devon Great Consols (DGC) which was, in fact, a consolidation of five adjacent mines which were worked for copper and arsenic in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At its peak, DGC employed around 1,300 people. The mines were named mostly after the shareholders or their wives – Wheal Maria, Wheal Fanny, Wheal Anna-Maria, Wheal Josiah and Wheal Emma. The site is huge and covers almost 70 hectares but we walked around a mere fraction of this area.


Our guide, Rick, waxing lyrical
about a hole in the ground. I'm sure he'll agree
that this was his natural habitat! 

DGC was in operation from 1844 until 1900 and then again from 1915 to 1930. Copper was extracted first and in total over 750,000 tons of copper ore were recovered. In 1850, the site was regarded as the richest copper mine in Europe. Copper reserves started to run out around 1870 and, luckily for all concerned, demand for arsenic increased almost simultaneously due to its use in the dyeing, paint and glass industries as well as a pesticide in the cotton fields of the USA. Unlike copper, large amounts of arsenic were refined on site using the ‘calcination’ process and in total yielded 72,000 tons of product. In the 1870s half the world’s arsenic production was estimated to have come from half a dozen mines in the Callington and Tavistock area, including DGC.

A grinding wheel that seemed to lend itself to
B/W rather than colour.

Most mining activity on the site ceased in 1902. However, in 1915 the upper levels of Wheal Fanny were reopened for the extraction of arsenic ore. A price slump in 1925 occurred mainly due to the introduction of non-arsenic based pesticides and this led to the suspension of activity and final closure followed in 1930. The last recorded industrial activity on the site dates from the early 1970s when a milling plant was installed to recover tin from the mine waste. However, this operation proved to be short-lived due to the decline in the tin price a few years later

Part of the arsenic processing area, with baffles for the sublimation of the arsenical gases in the foreground and the chimney for the release of the sulphurous fumes in the background.

DGC is now a site for tourism and recreation through the Tamar Valley Mining Heritage Project and forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site for the mining landscape of Cornwall and Devon. The site is now crisscrossed by recreation trails that are well used by cyclists, walkers, mountain bikers and horse-riders. And did I mention the views?


Looking west-ish across the site with some Duke of Bedford's miners' cottages in the distance. Hard to imagine that 150 years ago that this would have been a hive of industrial activity with many water wheels and steam engines in operation.

South-ish for this view, looking straight down the river valley. In the woods in the background is a local view point - Chimney Rock. Well worth the hike there for the panorama over the valley.