Turnavore Mine

Overview

Another of the individual setts -- alongside Wheal Kine, Wheal Pell, Prosper, Park and Squidler -- amalgamated into the Polberro Mines (St Agnes Consols) at St Agnes, notable for the 60-inch pumping engine installed at its own named shaft in 1886.

History

Turnavore was one of several individually named workings -- Wheal Kine, Wheal Pell, Prosper, Park and Squidler among them -- consolidated into the Polberro Mines, also known as St Agnes Consols or (after Queen Victoria's 1846 visit) Royal Polberro Consols. Unusually among the individual setts, Turnavore is remembered for its own named shaft: an engine house was built there in 1886 to house a 60-inch pumping engine, later moved to the adjacent Wheal Friendly in 1902 once Turnavore's own pumping needs had presumably been superseded. The wider Polberro concern's main productive period ran from 1837 to 1895, during which it produced 4,310 tons of tin and 1,598 tons of copper; by 1843 the combined workings covered upwards of 200 acres with 24 shafts, nine of them in full work.

Workings

Worked via Turnavore Shaft, which carried a 60-inch pumping engine from 1886 until the engine was relocated to the adjacent Wheal Friendly in 1902; part of the wider Polberro Mines group.

Closure

Turnavore's own working life falls within Polberro's main productive period, 1837-1895; its pumping engine was relocated to Wheal Friendly in 1902, suggesting Turnavore's own pumping needs had ended by then.

What remains

No reliable current-condition detail specific to Turnavore itself has yet been located, distinct from the wider Polberro/St Agnes Consols site.

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.

• An engine house was built at Turnavore Shaft in 1886 for a 60-inch pumping engine, which was moved to the adjacent Wheal Friendly in 1902. ¹
• The wider Polberro Mines group, into which Turnavore was consolidated, produced 4,310 tons of tin and 1,598 tons of copper during its main working period of 1837-1895. 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) Wheal Kine (Wheal Kind), St Agnes Consols (Polberro Consols) — Mindat
2. (secondary) Polberro Mine, St Agnes — Cornwall Calling

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 1 September 2026