MineArchiveLong Grass Quarry cliff fall, Tintagel, 1886
Three men drilling the face of Long Grass Quarry, on the cliffs between Tintagel and Trebarwith in north Cornwall, were carried into the sea in 1886 when the rock they were working snapped off beneath them.
| Date | 1886 |
|---|---|
| Mine | Tintagel Slate Quarries |
| Region | Cornwall |
| Type | Collapse / Roof Fall |
| Fatalities | 3 |
| Context | During active mining (The quarry was in work, and went on working for another fifty years.) |
Cause
The block of slate the men were drilling broke away from the cliff face and fell into the sea, taking them with it.
Contributing factors
The faces were reached by flights of wooden ladders down a sheer cliff above the sea, with iron handrails, chains and stanchions driven into the rock, and the men worked where a fall went straight into the water.
What happened
Long Grass Quarry, also called Cliff Quarry, cut Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous roofing slate from the cliff between Tintagel and Trebarwith Strand. Quarrymen climbed to the faces by flights of wooden ladders down the sheer rock to the left of a small box cave tunnelled at the foot of the cliff, where the best slate on the site was found. In 1886 three men were drilling when the rock they stood on snapped off and fell into the sea below, carrying all three with it. The quarry went on working for another half-century: a quarryman named Reuben Tinney died here in 1936, and in 1937 Long Grass became the last of the Tintagel coastal slate quarries to be abandoned.
Recorded claims
Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.
- Three men were killed in 1886. 1,2
- The rock the men were drilling snapped off and fell into the sea, taking them with it. 1,2
- The deaths happened at Long Grass Quarry, also known as Cliff Quarry, on the coast between Tintagel and Trebarwith. 2
- Men reached the faces by flights of wooden ladders down the sheer cliff, to the left of a box cave tunnelled at its foot. 1,2
- Long Grass Quarry worked until 1937, the last of the Tintagel coastal slate quarries to be abandoned. 1,2
Related terminology
Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.
- Ladders (contextual relationship)
Named twice in this record, first in the contributing factors: “The faces were reached by flights of wooden ladders down a sheer cliff above the sea, with iron handrails, chains and…” - Slate (contextual relationship)
Named 4 times in this record, first in the cause: “The block of slate the men were drilling broke away from the cliff face and fell into…”
Photographs & further reading
This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this disaster.
The quarry's location, its ladder access and box cave, the 1886 deaths and the 1990 Cornwall Archaeological Unit survey of what survives.
View sourceSources
- (secondary) Tintagel Slate Quarries, Cornwall — Cornwall Calling
- (secondary) Long Grass Quarry — Wikipedia
Record created: 24 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026