Prince of Wales Mine

Overview

Prince of Wales, an amalgamation of half a dozen older workings first recorded as Wheal Goodluck in 1580, kept coming back -- reworked in the 1940s to strip earlier waste dumps, drilled by a Canadian company in 1971, and driven into with a fresh adit as late as 1977.

History

Prince of Wales Mine, on a gentle south-facing slope at the northern edge of Harrowbarrow village, represents an amalgamation of several older workings -- among them Wheal Fortune, Wheal Pleasant, Wheal George, Wheal Barnard and West Edward -- together known in the early 19th century as Calstock United Tin and Copper Mines. The first reference to mining here comes from 1580, when the ground was worked as Wheal Goodluck, described as a great pyrite lode bearing silver; the site was offered for sale as a copper and tin mine in 1774, recorded working again in 1805 before soon being abandoned, and reopened as Wheal Goodluck once more in 1825-6, producing 37 tons of copper ore. From 1835 the ground was worked under two names, one of them East Wheal Brothers, drained by a Sims double-cylinder compound beam engine, until 1848. The site was reconstituted as the Prince of Wales Mine in 1861 and operated intermittently until 1914, in that period raising 10,845 tons of copper ore, over 1,000 tons of black tin, and 7,720 tons of arsenic-yielding iron pyrites. The mine's long, intermittent working life left a complex of surviving structures and earthworks: three engine houses, shafts, a miners' dry, at least two ore-processing floors of different dates, a probable powder magazine, two boiler ponds, tramways, concrete buildings and extensive waste dumps. All three engine houses were built from local pinkish shillety killas with wooden lintels, rather than the granite quoining typical elsewhere in Cornwall. The western engine house, built in 1888 to power stamping machinery, was itself modified during a 1940s reprocessing campaign, when its stamping floor, loading and boiler house were demolished; the middle engine house, built in 1879, once held a 50-inch pumping engine drawing water from the adjacent Watson's Shaft, its detached, decoratively capped chimney linked to it by an underground flue; the third, installed in 1888, held an all-indoor beamed rotative engine for winding from the same shaft. During the Second World War, in 1940, a processing floor was set up at the mine to rework earlier waste dumps alongside material brought in from nearby small mines and from Devon Great Consols; much of this 1940s dressing floor survives today as concrete footings, bases and a large ore bin. Around 1971 a Canadian company carried out exploratory drilling, and in 1977 a fresh exploratory adit was cut into the hillside -- the most recent phase of activity on a site whose working history by then already spanned nearly four centuries. Scheduled as a nationally important monument in November 2006, Prince of Wales is valued for the extensive range of structures surviving from its late-19th-century tin-mining phase, and for its prominent waste dumps, which preserve information on the character and efficiency of that tin extraction.

Geology

Copper-, tin- and arsenic-bearing lodes amalgamated from several older setts (Wheal Fortune, Wheal Pleasant, Wheal George, Wheal Barnard, West Edward) into the Calstock United and later Prince of Wales workings.

Workings

Three engine houses (pumping, winding, stamping) built of pinkish killas, shafts including Watson's Shaft, a miners' dry, two processing floors of different dates, a probable powder magazine, two boiler ponds and tramways.

Closure

Operated intermittently as Prince of Wales from 1861 to 1914; reworked for waste dumps in 1940, drilled by a Canadian company around 1971, and driven with a fresh exploratory adit in 1977.

What remains

Scheduled as a nationally important monument since November 2006; Historic England's own Heritage at Risk register lists the site with 'extensive significant problems' and a declining trend.

Three engine houses, a detached chimney linked by underground flue, a miners' dry, two boiler ponds, tramways, 1940s concrete dressing-floor footings and a large ore bin, and extensive waste dumps survive.

Nearby mines

• Bedford United Mine — 2.1 km NE, Devon
• Hingston Down Quarry — 2.1 km NE
• Danescombe Mine — 2.7 km SE
• Gunnislake Clitters Mine — 2.7 km NE
• Wheal Fanny — 3.0 km NE, 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.

• The mine represents an amalgamation of several other mines amongst which are Wheal Fortune, Wheal Pleasant, Wheal George, Wheal Barnard and West Edward which together were known as Calstock United Tin and Copper Mines in the early part of the 19th century; in 1861 the mine was re-constituted as the Prince of Wales Mine and operated intermittently from then until 1914, in that period producing 10,845 tons of copper ore, over 1000 tons of black tin, and 7,720 tons of arsenic yielding iron pyrites. ¹
• In 1940, during World War II, a processing floor was established at the mine to rework the earlier dumps and material from nearby small mines and Devon Great Consols; in about 1971 a Canadian company carried out exploratory work including drilling and finally in 1977 an exploratory adit was cut into the hillside. ¹
• The first reference to the mines being worked was in 1580, as Wheal Goodluck, the lode described as a great pyrite lode bearing silver; the mine was offered for sale as a copper and tin mine in 1774, and in 1825-6 Harrowbarrow was reopened as Wheal Goodluck again and produced 37 tons of copper ore. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Prince of Wales Mine at Harrowbarrow, Calstock, Cornwall — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)
2. (secondary) Harrowbarrow & Prince of Wales Mines, Cornwall — Cornwall Calling (Cornish mining history gazetteer)

Record created: 17 September 2026 · Last researched: 17 September 2026