Holmbush Mine

Overview

The oldest mine in the Callington district, north of Kelly Bray, probably at work in the early 1600s on a north-south lead lode carrying silver, and later much the larger producer of copper: 42,900 tons of copper ore between 1822 and 1892. It was also one of the county's chief producers of arsenical pyrites. In 1844 a hundred men and boys worked underground and as many again on the surface. From the late 1830s it was drawn into a succession of amalgamations with Redmoor and Kelly Bray, latterly as Callington United Mines, and closed in 1892.

History

Holmbush is old for the district and was probably working in the early seventeenth century, most likely on the lead lode, when lead and silver were what the ground was valued for. It was at work again in the late 1700s. Copper became the main object through the nineteenth century, and between 1822 and 1892 the mine raised 42,900 tons of copper ore. In 1844 there were a hundred men and boys below ground and about the same number on the surface. From about the late 1830s the mines of the area began combining under a succession of names, Holmbush being usually worked in conjunction with Redmoor and Kelly Bray, with the smaller West Holmbush, East Holmbush — also called Lady Beam — and South Kelly Bray occasionally taken in as well. Hichen's Shaft dates from the restart of 1876 under the name Callington United; the building at the centre of that complex housed the Cornish rolls that crushed the copper ore. The mine showed at the Great Exhibition of 1851, sending single specimens of silver-lead ore and of copper ore each weighing between one and one and a half tons. Arsenic was the other trade. Holmbush was a major producer of arsenical pyrites, and in the late 1870s and early 1880s it was one of the three mines leading the county's pyrite output — with New Great Consols and Okel Tor — all three of which also sold refined arsenic. Working ended with the final closure in 1892.

Geology

Holmbush worked two sets of lodes running at right angles to one another, which is why it produced such different things at different dates. Five copper-tin lodes course east-north-east to west-south-west, of which only Holmbush and Flopjack were developed to any depth; a separate lead lode runs north to south, and the lead and silver occur together in the north-south lodes lying above the east-west copper and tin. The ground is at the eastern end of the Cornubian orefield, near the Devon border and the granite of Kit Hill.

Geological setting: Veins and Lodes (well documented example)

Workings

A group of shafts working the two lode systems, the best recorded being Hichen's Shaft, sunk or re-equipped at the 1876 restart as Callington United. The Hichen's Shaft complex survives as a very good example of the range of features and structures grouped around a shaft head at a mid to later nineteenth-century non-ferrous metal mine, with an engine house, chimneys, and the building that held the Cornish rolls for crushing copper ore.

Closure

The amalgamations that began in the late 1830s ran on under various names to the final closure in 1892, by which time the copper trade that had sustained the mine for seventy years was long past its peak and arsenic had become the more reliable product.

What remains

Substantial surface remains stand in fields and plantation north of Kelly Bray, seen from the A388: an engine house ruin with its stack, a second chimney, and further engine houses still standing. The Hichen's Shaft complex and the Windsor Lane rotative engine house with its boiler house and loadings are separately scheduled. A circular walk runs through the site.

Nearby mines

• Excelsior Mine — 2.7 km NW
• Kit Hill Mine — 2.8 km W
• Redmoor Mine — 3.1 km NW
• New Consols Mine — 5.0 km N
• Bedford United Mine — 5.9 km E, 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.

• 42,900 tons of copper ore were raised between 1822 and 1892. ¹
• In 1844 a hundred men and boys worked underground at Holmbush, with the same number again employed on the surface. ¹
• Five east-north-east to west-south-west copper-tin lodes were developed, of which only Holmbush and Flopjack went to any depth, and a separate north-south lead lode was worked; lead and silver occur together in the north-south lodes above the east-west copper and tin. ²
• Holmbush was a major producer of arsenical pyrites and, with New Great Consols and Okel Tor, led the county's pyrite output in the late 1870s and early 1880s; all three also sold refined arsenic. ²
• The mine exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, showing single specimens of silver-lead ore and of copper ore each weighing between one and one and a half tons. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (observational) Stoke Climsland: Holmbush Mine — Geograph Britain and Ireland
2. (secondary) Holmbush Mine, Cornwall — Cornwall Calling
3. (observational) Holmbush Mine, view across the field from the A388 — Geograph Britain and Ireland
4. (primary) Holmbush Mine: Hitchen's Shaft complex, Stokeclimsland — National Heritage List for England 1020435 — Historic England

Record created: 9 September 2026 · Last researched: 9 September 2026