East Boscaswell Mine

Overview

A tin and zinc mine east of Boscaswell Downs, also known as Wheal Hearle, reopened in 1859 and worked into the 1870s, whose two surviving 19th-century engine houses now hold UNESCO World Heritage status.

History

East Boscaswell Mine, also known as Wheal Hearle, lay to the east of Boscaswell Downs in the Pendeen district of St Just, working tin-bearing lodes for cassiterite and some sphalerite. An old mine, it was reopened in 1859 by a new company; the mining surveyor Thomas Spargo recorded in 1865 that 'the present Company commenced in 1859, and has worked at a loss of a few thousands.' Organised in 3,648 shares, with Thomas Hollow as purser and J. S. Phillips as manager, the mine's landowners included Augustus Stephens Rodd among others. By 1864 the mine employed around 95 people, working to 150 fathoms below an 8-fathom adit via a 30-inch pumping engine and a 10-inch winding engine; between 1861 and 1864 it sold 210 tons of black tin, with a further 50 tons produced between 1873 and 1877. Spargo's contemporary assessment judged its prospects 'fair', reckoning that a recovery in tin prices could bring the mine back to covering its costs.

Workings

Worked tin-bearing lodes to 150 fathoms below an 8-fathom adit, via a 30-inch pumping engine and a 10-inch winding engine.

What remains

Two of Wheal Hearle's 19th-century beam engine houses -- a whim engine house for winding and a pump engine house -- survive beside the B3318 road south of Pendeen, in ruinous but partially intact condition; both gained UNESCO World Heritage status in 2006 as part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, with safety barriers installed around open shafts.

Two ruined 19th-century beam engine houses -- a whim engine house and a pump engine house -- beside the B3318 road.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• An old mine, East Boscaswell (Wheal Hearle) was reopened in 1859 by a new company organised in 3,648 shares under purser Thomas Hollow and manager J. S. Phillips; the mining surveyor Thomas Spargo recorded in 1865 that the company had worked at a loss of a few thousand pounds since starting. ¹
• By 1864 the mine employed around 95 people, working to 150 fathoms below an 8-fathom adit via a 30-inch pumping engine and a 10-inch winding engine; it sold 210 tons of black tin between 1861 and 1864, and a further 50 tons between 1873 and 1877. ¹
• Two of the mine's 19th-century beam engine houses -- a whim engine house and a pump engine house -- survive beside the B3318 road and gained UNESCO World Heritage status in 2006 as part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. ²

Sources

1. (secondary) Wheal Hearle (IntoCornwall, drawing on Spargo's 1865 survey) — IntoCornwall
2. (secondary) East Boscaswell Mine (Wheal Hearle), Pendeen, St Just — Mindat.org

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