Gunnislake Clitters Mine

Overview

Gunnislake Clitters worked the steep wooded slope running down to the Tamar below Gunnislake, on the Cornish bank opposite Devon. It began about 1820 with an adit driven in from the river and a waterwheel to pump it, and went deeper with steam engines from the 1860s. Copper and tin were the first products; when those were worked out the mine turned to arsenic, and tungsten was raised as well. Its best years came in the early 1880s, when it employed nearly two hundred people and raised well over 2,500 tonnes of ore a year. The site is now a scheduled monument, and an engine house, a wheelpit and the labyrinths of the arsenic works still stand among the trees.

History

The Tamar valley was mined for copper long before Gunnislake Clitters: Old Gunnislake just to the south and Wheal Tamar had been worked for it in the 1700s, and uranium was found in both though never mined. Gunnislake Clitters itself was worked from about 1820, first by an adit driven from the valley side to drain the ground, with a waterwheel doing the pumping, and later by shafts. Steam engines installed in the 1860s allowed working below adit level. In 1858 the sett, then known as Clitters Adit, was sold as a going concern. T. C. Isaacs and others held it in 1875-76 and the Gunnislake Clitters Mining Co. from 1877 to 1889, the period the Durham Mining Museum records as its working life: 161 people in 1883 raising tin and copper, 89 in 1885 raising manganese, and 59 in 1887 raising copper. In its heyday in the early 1880s the mine employed almost two hundred and raised an average of more than 2,500 tonnes of ore a year. John Rodda, chief agent from 1859 to 1863 and later assistant overseer for the parish of Calstock, is one of a long line of named agents and managers running to 1908. Joseph Paull held the mine in 1899 and the Clitters United Mines Co. Ltd from 1900 to 1908; the Duchy of Cornwall took it in 1919, and the sett forms part of the estate of the Duke of Cornwall. Before the East Cornwall Mineral Railway was built a tramroad linked the mine to wharves on the Tamar at Gunnislake.

Geology

Gunnislake Clitters lies in the Tamar valley mineral belt on the eastern edge of the Dartmoor and Bodmin granite country, where hydrothermal lodes carry copper and tin at shallower levels with arsenic and tungsten among them. The mine's sequence of products — copper and tin first, then arsenic once the metal ores were exhausted — follows what the lodes gave up rather than any change of plan. Uranium was found in the neighbouring Old Gunnislake and Wheal Tamar setts but never mined.

Geological setting: Hydrothermal Deposits (well documented example), Veins and Lodes (well documented example)

Workings

An adit driven in from the valley side at river level did the early draining, with a waterwheel pumping; shafts and steam engines came later, and by 1883 men were working at the 188-fathom level east of the engine shaft. The steep wooded slope carried sheds, settling ponds and arsenic labyrinths as well as the engine houses. A tramroad ran to wharves at Gunnislake before the East Cornwall Mineral Railway reached the mine.

Closure

Sources differ on how long the mine ran. The Durham Mining Museum gives 1860 to 1889, which matches the life of the Gunnislake Clitters Mining Co.; Cornwall Calling gives the working period as 1820 to 1919 and lists later owners through the Clitters United Mines Co. Ltd to 1908 and the Duchy of Cornwall in 1919. The site was neglected after closure, and the Cornwall Archaeological Unit has since strengthened weakened buildings, fenced dangerous areas and made safe routes through.

What remains

The mine is a scheduled monument and sits on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register, with conservation work funded by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The wheelpit and the Riverside engine house survive, and a ruined engine house stands on the Skinner's part of the site. A waymarked circular walk from Gunnislake station takes in the mine along with Drakewalls, the East Cornwall Mineral Railway and a Victorian brickworks; the ground carries the usual hazards of a mining site.

Nearby mines

• Wheal Frementor — 0.3 km NE, Devon
• Wheal Fanny — 0.4 km N, Devon
• Bedford United Mine — 0.5 km SW, Devon
• Hingston Down Quarry — 0.7 km S
• Devon Great Consols — 1.2 km N, Devon

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• Cornwall Calling gives the mine as worked from 1820 to 1919, first by an adit from the valley side and later by shafts; the Durham Mining Museum records it as opened in 1860 and closed in 1889, which matches the life of the Gunnislake Clitters Mining Co. (disputed) ^1,2
• The mine produced copper, arsenic, tin and tungsten; tin and copper are returned in 1883, manganese in 1885 and copper in 1887. ^1,2
• The Lists of Mines record 161 people in 1883, 89 in 1885 and 59 in 1887. ¹
• Known owners run from the sale of Clitters Adit as a going concern in 1858 through T. C. Isaacs and others, the Gunnislake Clitters Mining Co., Joseph Paull, the Clitters United Mines Co. Ltd to 1908, and the Duchy of Cornwall in 1919. ²
• Before the East Cornwall Mineral Railway was built, a tramroad linked the mine to wharves at Gunnislake. ²
• The site was neglected after closure and the Cornwall Archaeological Unit has strengthened weakened buildings, fenced dangerous areas and provided safe routes through it. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Gunnislake Clitters — Durham Mining Museum, from the Mines Inspectors Reports and the Lists of Mines
2. (secondary) Gunnislake Clitters Mine — Cornwall Calling
3. (observational) Gunnislake Clitters Mine: walks in the Tamar Valley — Tamar Valley National Landscape
4. (observational) Ruined engine house on the Skinner's site, Gunnislake Clitters (photographed 2006) — Geograph Britain and Ireland, Tony Atkin

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 10 September 2026