Ale and Cakes Mine

Overview

A Gwennap copper mine that, together with Wheal Cupboard and Poldory, amalgamated around 1780 to form United Mines -- a combined operation rebuilt into profitability by the engineer John Taylor in the 1820s and eventually merged into Clifford Amalgamated Mines before closing around 1870.

History

Ale and Cakes Mine was working south of the Great Consolidated Mines in Gwennap parish before 1780, when it amalgamated with the neighbouring Wheal Cupboard and Poldory to form United Mines. The combined group later expanded further to take in Wheal Britannia, Wheal Clifford, Wheal Moor, Wheal Squire, Wheal Andrew (also known as Friendship Mines) and Copper Hill Mine. In the early 1820s the mining engineer John Taylor acquired the lease of these largely abandoned Gwennap workings and spent several years rebuilding them, striking what was at the time the richest copper lode in the world; the mines were well in profit by 1822. Facing high costs transporting ore via the existing Portreath Tramroad, Taylor built his own line, the horse-drawn Redruth and Chasewater mineral railway, through the Carnon valley to Devoran, opening it in 1824 (it was later converted to steam haulage and remained in use until 1915). At its 19th-century peak the United Mines group's underground workings extended some 80 miles, driven by 22 operating engines; between 1815 and 1861 the group as a whole raised 347,500 tons of 7.5%-grade copper ore, alongside 250 tons of black tin, 158 tons of arsenic, 1,290 tons of pyrite and 271 tons of zinc ore. United Mines merged with the neighbouring Consolidated Mines in 1857 to form Clifford Amalgamated Mines, which continued operating, increasingly unprofitably, until closure around 1870 as metals discovered elsewhere in the world depressed global prices; a brief period of prospecting in the 1940s did not lead to any resumption of commercial mining.

Geology

Copper and tin in the Gwennap lodes, part of the United Mines ground where John Taylor's rebuilding of the old workings in the 1820s struck what was then reckoned the richest copper lode in the world.

Workings

One of three founding mines of the United Mines group, whose combined 19th-century workings extended some 80 miles underground and were served by 22 operating engines and, from 1824, John Taylor's own Redruth and Chasewater mineral railway to Devoran.

Closure

Closed around 1870 as part of Clifford Amalgamated Mines, following declining global metal prices; brief 1940s prospecting did not lead to a resumption of mining.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• United Mines — One of United Mines' three founding setts, amalgamated around 1780.
• Wheal Cupboard — One of the three mines amalgamated as United Mines about 1780.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Ale and Cakes Mine amalgamated with the neighbouring Wheal Cupboard and Poldory around 1780 to form United Mines, which later expanded to take in Wheal Britannia, Wheal Clifford, Wheal Moor, Wheal Squire, Wheal Andrew and Copper Hill Mine. ^1,2
• In the early 1820s John Taylor acquired the lease of these largely abandoned workings and struck what was at the time the richest copper lode in the world, going on to build his own mineral railway, the Redruth and Chasewater line to Devoran, opened in 1824 and used until 1915. ¹
• Between 1815 and 1861 the United Mines group raised 347,500 tons of 7.5%-grade copper ore, alongside black tin, arsenic, pyrite and zinc ore, before merging into Clifford Amalgamated Mines in 1857 and closing around 1870. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) United Mines — Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
2. (secondary) Ale and Cakes Mine, Cornwall — Cornwall Calling

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 31 August 2026