Going Underground

There’s an old saying in Cornwall, “Find a hole in the ground anywhere in the world and there will be a Cornishman at the bottom of it.” This dates from the slump in the Cornish tin mining industry at the end of the 19th century when the skill of the miners found a ready source of employment in other countries. This sad decline came after 2000 years as the number one source of tin in the world.

The years from 1820 to 1880 were especially fruitful and this was the time when the typical engine houses that fill the landscape were built. Still today there are many parts of Cornwall where you are never out of sight of at least one engine house. Two of the most spectacular are Botallack and Wheal Coates, both perched on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic.

For lovers of industrial archaeology there are several places where you can go underground and learn about the history of mining. Geevor near St Just is one such venue, and it has a comprehensive array of above-ground display too, having only closed as a working mine in 1990. Of course the name that everyone will recognise is the Poldark Mine, although it is not a real mine name. The mine is real enough though but unfortunately is currently closed due to financial and communication problems. For anyone who wants the most authentic underground visit without the commercial paraphernalia, Cornwall Underground Adventures offer a variety of activities ranging from a walk-in tour to a thrilling abseil into the bowels of a mine.

Places to stay:

The Lifeboat Inn, St Ives
The Summer House, Penzance
Beacon Country House Hotel, St Agnes

It seems like each region of the UK has it’s own metal, and in Mid-Wales it is GOLD! Like Cornish tin, Welsh gold dates back at least to Roman times. The Dolaucothi gold mine in Carmarthenshire is run by the National Trust and offers lots of different things to do. There are two adits (horizontal tunnels) where visitors can go down into the mine and learn about Roman and Victorian mining methods and children can have fun panning for gold at the base of a mountain stream.

Places to stay:
Y Talbot Inn, Tregaron
The Plough Inn, Llandeilo
Harbourmaster Hotel, Aberaeron

Even older than that gold mine, the Great Orme copper mine dates right back to the Bronze Age. It is believed to be the largest prehistoric mine in the world and yet it was lost and forgotten when it closed in the 19th century and only rediscovered in 1987 during a scheme to landscape an area of the Great Orme. Since then the vast workings have gradually been uncovered by mining engineers, cavers and archaeologists and the visitor experience has been carefully developed. A trip here lets you walk through tunnels mined out over 3,500 years ago, see how our ancestors turned rock into metal at the smelting shelter and peer down the 145 metre deep Victorian mine shaft.

Places to stay:
Escape, Llandudno
Summer Hill Guest House, Betws-y-Coed
Chateau Rhianfa, Glyngarth

In the Peak District the main metal is lead, and once again the ore has been mined there since Roman times or before. The Peak District Mining Museum in Matlock Bath has lots of information and artefacts related to the industry and includes a guided tour into an authentic 1920s lead and fluorspar mine.

Places to Stay:
Peak Edge Hotel, Chesterfield
Biggin Hall, Biggin-by-Hartington

Before the Bronze Age the most valuable tool material was flint, which like all the metals mentioned only occurs in certain specific places. Amazingly, you can visit and climb down to the bottom of the largest known prehistoric flint mine. The lunar-like landscape at Grime’s Graves in Norfolk is the legacy of hundreds of years of flint mining, during which the miners dug over 400 pits for extracting their prized material. Compared with the deep mines of Cornwall, the flint mines are modest, just 9 metres deep with galleries stretching out from the floor just as far as the rock above would support. Visitors can go to the bottom of one of the excavated pits as well as discovering the history of Grimes’s Graves in the new exhibition centre.

Places to Stay:
Tuddenham Mill Hotel, Mildenhall

This blog just touches the surface of mining archaeology in Britain. There are many other visitor attractions covering the subject in other areas, and many other commodities have been mined: silver, zinc, tungsten, iron and of course coal. Tell us about your own favourite in an email to office@littlehotels.co.uk.

28 Jun 2024, 11:02