Oatfield Mine

Overview

A small copper mine in Crowan parish, east of Leedstown, that worked the eastern extensions of the Crenver and Wheal Abraham lodes in the 1840s and was absorbed into that mine around 1864. Two open shafts and extensive waste tips remain east of the B3303.

History

Oatfield lay at the south-eastern end of the ground that became Crenver and Wheal Abraham, about a mile and a quarter east of Leedstown. The Northern Mine Research Society's directory cites a notice in The Times of April 1825 and Mining Journal reports of 1842, 1844 and 1847 under the mine's own name, so it was a going concern in its own right for at least two decades. Mindat describes it as working the eastern extensions of the Crenver and Wheal Abraham copper lodes during the 1840s, and chalcocite was recorded there as early as Phillips's mineralogy of 1823. The Mining Journal of 1847 already reported the neighbours together as Abraham, Crenver and Oatfield Mines, and the Lists of Mines for 1863 to 1865 return them under that combined title. The Buddlepit database puts the merger of Oatfield into Crenver and Wheal Abraham at about 1864, the year a joint-stock company registration is recorded for the mine. After that Oatfield Shaft is one shaft among a dozen on the combined sett, which worked until 1870.

Geology

The mine worked the eastern extensions of the Crenver and Wheal Abraham copper lodes. Chalcocite is the one mineral recorded from it.

Geological setting: Veins and Lodes (historical documentary reference)

Workings

Two open shafts survive, one of them the Oatfield Shaft later counted among the shafts of the combined mine. Nothing has been found describing the levels or the depth of Oatfield's own working.

Closure

Not closed so much as absorbed: the 1847 Mining Journal and the 1863–65 Lists of Mines already group it with Abraham and Crenver, and Buddlepit dates the merger to about 1864. The combined Crenver and Wheal Abraham worked until 1870.

What remains

Two open shafts and some fairly extensive waste tips lie east of the B3303 and south of Trenoweth, according to Mindat's site description. No recent visit report has been found.

Two open shafts and extensive waste tips east of the B3303, south of Trenoweth.

Related mines

• Crenver & Wheal Abraham — Oatfield worked the eastern extensions of the same lodes and was absorbed into Crenver and Wheal Abraham about 1864; Oatfield Shaft became one of the combined mine's shafts.

Nearby mines

• Crenver & Wheal Abraham — 0.6 km W
• Wheal Metal — 4.0 km S
• Wheal Fortune — 4.6 km S
• Wheal Grenville — 4.6 km N
• South Wheal Frances — 4.7 km NE

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.

• Mindat describes Oatfield as working the eastern extensions of the Crenver and Wheal Abraham copper lodes during the 1840s; the NMRS directory cites The Times of 15 April 1825 and Mining Journal reports of 1842, 1844 and 1847 under its name. ^1,2
• Buddlepit dates the merger of Oatfield into Crenver and Wheal Abraham to about 1864; the NMRS directory records a joint-stock registration in 1864 and the Lists of Mines for 1863–65 returning the mines together as Crenver, Oatfield and Wheal Abraham. ^3,2,4
• Two open shafts and some fairly extensive waste tips lie east of the B3303 road and south of Trenoweth. ¹
• Chalcocite is recorded from the mine, on the authority of Phillips's Elementary Introduction to Mineralogy of 1823. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Oatfield Mine, Crowan — Mindat — Mindat
2. (secondary) Oatfield Mine — NMRS Mine Directory — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Crenver Mine — Buddlepit Mine Database — Mining History Trust (citing Dines, H.G. 1956, The Metalliferous Mining Region of South West England Vol.1)
4. (secondary) Crenver Oatfield and Wheal Abraham — NMRS Mine Directory — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 8 September 2026 · Last researched: 12 September 2026