West Crinnis Mine

Overview

A copper mine two miles east of St Austell, run on the cost-book system from an office in Birmingham, which took in the older Wheal Regent and worked the ground between South Crinnis and the railway for five years in the 1850s; its workings lie under the houses of Carlyon Bay.

History

The earliest workings in this ground were those of Wheal Regent, opened in the Crinnis Woods after the copper strike of 1809 and named for the Prince Regent, which sold 2,623 tons of seven per cent copper ore between 1815 and 1823. They were later taken into a larger sett called West Crinnis, lying close to the main railway line two miles east of St Austell, with South Crinnis to the south and Great Crinnis beyond it. A directory of 1856 describes the mine at work with a fifty-inch pumping engine and a twenty-four-inch steam whim and crusher, on the cost-book system with three thousand shares, its captain John Webb and its offices at St George's Chambers in Birmingham; no mine was then working on the north or west, so the sett's neighbours were Wheal Regent to the east and South Crinnis to the south. Between 1855 and 1859 West Crinnis sold 1,665 tons of copper ore at seven and a half per cent, thirteen tons of pyrite and three tons of lead ore at sixty-six per cent carrying a little silver, and it appears to have given up at the end of that run. The surface was levelled long ago and bungalows built over it, the road through them named Regents Close after the older mine; the workings themselves extend under much of the residential part of Carlyon Bay, and a Wheal Regent Restaurant survived among the shops there until recent years.

Geology

Copper ground on the eastern side of the St Austell granite, the same lodes that made Crinnis and South Crinnis. The ore sold was copper at seven to seven and a half per cent, with a little pyrite and argentiferous lead. The species recorded from the sett are chalcopyrite, galena and pyrite, the galena on the authority of Dines's 1956 memoir of the metalliferous mining region of south-west England.

Workings

A cost-book company of three thousand shares working the sett with a fifty-inch pumping engine and a twenty-four-inch steam whim and crusher in 1856. No adit was driven. There were several dumps, among them one at the Engine Shaft beside the Pinetum, and water issues from that large dump still. The underground workings run beneath much of residential Carlyon Bay.

Closure

The recorded sales run from 1855 to 1859 and nothing later is recorded under the name. How the sett was given up is unknown.

What remains

Largely built over. The surface remains at the eastern end were levelled and bungalows built on them, forming Regents Close, but a large dump survives at the Engine Shaft beside the Pinetum, with water issuing from it.

Several dumps, of which the large one at the Engine Shaft beside the Pinetum is the survivor; water issues from it, there being no adit. The remains at the eastern end of the sett were levelled and built over as Regents Close.

Redevelopment

Housing at Carlyon Bay: Regents Close stands on the levelled surface remains, and the workings run under much of the residential part of the resort.

Related mines

• Great Crinnis Mine — The great copper mine of the same ground, beyond South Crinnis to the east.
• Wheal Regent — The older working in the Crinnis Woods that this sett took in, and the source of the name Regents Close.

Nearby mines

• Wheal Regent — 0.4 km E
• Great Crinnis Mine — 0.7 km E
• Carclaze Pit — 3.0 km NW
• Wheal Martyn China Clay Works — 5.1 km N
• Fowey Consols — 5.2 km NE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

The workings underlie a residential area; there is nothing to visit and nothing accessible.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The earliest workings here were known as Wheal Regent and were later included in the larger West Crinnis sett. Cornwall Calling and mindat both date that to 1855, mindat citing Dines's 1956 memoir; the directory of 1856, a contemporary compilation, still describes Wheal Regent as the sett bounding West Crinnis on the east. (disputed) ^1,2,3

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• West Crinnis Mine lay on both sides of the main railway line two miles east of St Austell, in the parish of St Austell, bounded on the east by Wheal Regent and on the south by South Crinnis, with no mine at work on the north or west in 1856. ^1,2
• The earliest workings here were known as Wheal Regent and were later included in the larger West Crinnis sett. Cornwall Calling and mindat both date that to 1855, mindat citing Dines's 1956 memoir; the directory of 1856, a contemporary compilation, still describes Wheal Regent as the sett bounding West Crinnis on the east. (disputed) ^1,2,3
• Wheal Regent sold 2,623 tons of seven per cent copper ore between 1815 and 1823, and West Crinnis 1,665 tons of seven and a half per cent copper ore between 1855 and 1859 together with thirteen tons of pyrite and three tons of sixty-six per cent lead ore carrying a little silver. ²
• The mine then had a fifty-inch pumping engine and a twenty-four-inch steam whim and crusher, and was worked for copper. ¹
• West Crinnis was a cost-book company of three thousand shares with its offices at St George's Chambers, Birmingham, and John Webb as captain on the mine. ¹
• The workings extend under much of the residential part of Carlyon Bay; the surface remains have been levelled and bungalows built to form Regents Close, and a Wheal Regent Restaurant stood among the shops at Carlyon Bay until some years ago. ²
• Several dumps survived on the surface, including one at an Engine Shaft next to the Pinetum. ²
• mindat places West Crinnis Mine at SX 046 523, 50° 20' 15" north and 4° 44' 46" west, 2.1 km east-south-east of St Austell; Wheal Regent's own locality lies at SX 050 523, about four hundred metres to the east. ^4,3
• No adit was driven at West Crinnis. Several dumps survived, including one at the Engine Shaft adjacent to the Pinetum, and water issues from that large dump. ³
• The species recorded from the sett are chalcopyrite, galena and pyrite; the galena rests on Dines's 1956 memoir of the metalliferous mining region of south-west England, and chalcopyrite and pyrite are recorded from both West Crinnis and Wheal Regent within it. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) 1856 Mines in Devon and Cornwall — Grace's Guide
2. (secondary) West Crinnis Mine, Cornwall — Cornwall Calling
3. (secondary) West Crinnis Mine, Carlyon Bay, Carlyon, Cornwall, England, UK (locality 221815) — Mindat (Hudson Institute of Mineralogy)
4. (secondary) Wheal Regent, West Crinnis Mine, Carlyon Bay, Cornwall — Mindat (Hudson Institute of Mineralogy)

Record created: 24 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026