Rosevale Mine

Overview

A small tin mine at Zennor, briefly and unsuccessfully reworked in the early 20th century on the site of the older Wheal Chance, now preserved by volunteers as the only underground mine restoration project of its kind in Cornwall.

History

Tin had been worked at the site since at least the 18th century under the name Wheal Chance, centred on a shaft near Trewey Hill, and continued to be worked at intervals on a small scale by local miners through the 19th century, including some activity in the 1840s. In the early 20th century a group of local men led by William Nankervis, who had returned to their native parish after working abroad, reopened the ground, driving a new tunnel into the side of the valley that struck a workable lode; they erected a battery of five stamps driven by a waterwheel and produced around 3.6 tons of black tin between 1906 and 1913. In 1912 the Rayfield (Cornwall) Tin Syndicate Limited took a 21-year lease on the mine from the Nankervis family, at £36 a year, later shifting to a royalty based on minerals sold; Nankervis himself became mine captain at £8 a month. The company renamed the site Zennor Mine and expanded operations significantly, driving new crosscuts and constructing a new gas-powered dressing mill fitted with pneumatic stamps, capable of processing 50 tons a day. Early results were promising — a lode up to three feet wide was found by mid-1913 — but recovered grades fell sharply, from around 473 lb of tin per ton down to as little as 15 lb per ton, before recovering somewhat to 50-60 lb per ton by early 1914. The Zennor Tin Mines Syndicate Ltd was registered with £50,000 of capital to back the venture, and in 1913 the mine sold 1 ton 18 cwt of black tin for £153. Work was suspended on the outbreak of the First World War in autumn 1914, and an attempted reopening in 1917 failed for want of labour; the company remained in existence into the early 1920s without further recorded activity, and was wound up by 1925. Some minimal working may have taken place in the 1930s, but the mine then lay abandoned for decades. In the mid-1970s a small group of enthusiasts took a lease on the site and began what has become a 40-year, entirely volunteer-run restoration of the underground workings, using traditional methods and materials to preserve them as an authentic example of hard-rock, narrow-vein Cornish mining. The mine, now owned by the Rosevale Historical Mining Society, is the only underground mine restoration project of its type in Cornwall, and today functions as an educational site, offering guided tours, hosting film productions, and supporting academic research including work by the Camborne School of Mines.

Workings

A tunnel driven into the valley side struck a lode, later worked via new crosscuts under the Rayfield syndicate; ore was dressed first at a water-powered five-stamp battery and later at a new gas-powered mill with pneumatic stamps capable of 50 tons a day. The mine's two main levels are linked underground by a 30-metre fixed ladderway climbing a near-vertical stope.

What remains

Restored over some 40 years by volunteers of the Rosevale Historical Mining Society, the mine now offers guided underground tours by prior arrangement — walking in along No.2 Level, climbing the ladderway to No.1 Level, and walking out — demonstrating narrow-vein hard-rock mining methods largely as they would have been practised a century ago.

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.

• Tin was worked at the site from at least the 18th century under the name Wheal Chance, continuing at intervals on a small scale into the 1840s and beyond. ^1,2
• William Nankervis led a group of local men in reopening the mine, driving a new tunnel and erecting a water-powered five-stamp battery, producing around 3.6 tons of black tin between 1906 and 1913. ¹
• In 1912 the Rayfield (Cornwall) Tin Syndicate Limited leased the mine, renamed it Zennor Mine, and built a new gas-powered mill with pneumatic stamps capable of processing 50 tons a day. ¹
• Recovered ore grades fell sharply from around 473 lb of tin per ton to as little as 15 lb per ton before partially recovering; work was suspended on the outbreak of the First World War in autumn 1914, and a 1917 reopening attempt failed for want of labour. ¹
• From the mid-1970s a small group of volunteers, now the Rosevale Historical Mining Society, has restored the underground workings using traditional methods over some 40 years, making it the only project of its kind in Cornwall. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Sources

1. (secondary) History — Rosevale Mine (Rosevale Historical Mining Society)
2. (secondary) Rosevale Mine, Cornwall — Cornwall Calling

Record created: 26 August 2026 · Last researched: 26 August 2026