MineArchiveWest Sharp Tor Mine
| Also known as | Sharptor Mine, West Sharptor Mine |
|---|---|
| Location | Sharptor, Linkinhorne parish, on the south-east edge of Bodmin Moor near Caradon Hill, Cornwall — 50.5325, -4.4578 (approximate) |
| Commodity | Copper |
| Type | Metal |
| Worked | from 1850 |
| Maximum depth | Unknown. |
Overview
A copper mine in granite at Sharptor, on the edge of Bodmin Moor near Caradon Hill, opened in 1850 on a Duchy of Cornwall lease with a 60-horsepower engine; its engine house has since largely fallen into the shaft.
History
West Sharp Tor Mine lay in Linkinhorne parish, in the manor of Rillaton and the Phoenix mining district, on ground where the Duke of Cornwall owns most of the mineral rights. It was held from the Duchy on a 21-year lease from 1849 and first opened in 1850 to work copper in granite, with a 60-horsepower steam engine installed that year by William West. Its ores went to Looe, fifteen miles away, for shipping. The costbook company had 256 shares with £62 paid on each, a capital of £15,872, and had spent about £15,000 by 1855; Thomas Morris of Tavistock was purser and William Richards captain.
The hamlet of Sharptor housed quarrymen and miners: of its 21 residents in 1871, about a third worked in mining. Besides copper, the mine's tailings hold cassiterite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, connellite, langite and the copper oxide known locally as tile ore. Maps of 1877 and 1907 show the mine; its chimney has since been removed and most of the engine house has fallen into the shaft. The novelist E. V. Thompson, who lived in a miner's cottage in Sharptor, wrote the mine into his Retallick saga.
Geology
Copper lodes in granite; the tailings also carry cassiterite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, connellite, langite and cuprite (tile ore).
Workings
An engine shaft with a 60-horsepower steam engine installed by William West in 1850.
Closure
Unknown.
What remains
The chimney has been removed and most of the engine house has fallen into the shaft; some structures survive among the houses of Sharptor.
Remnants of mine buildings, one believed to have been an engine house, and old shafts and adits around the hamlet.
Redevelopment
Unknown.
Related mines
- Phoenix United Mine — West Sharp Tor lay in the Phoenix mining district, near the Phoenix mines.
Nearby mines
- Cheesewring Quarry — 0.5 miles (0.8 km) S
- Marke Valley Mine — 0.5 miles (0.9 km) S
- Phoenix United Mine — 0.7 miles (1.1 km) SE
- Wheal Jenkin — 1.2 miles (2.0 km) S
- Caradon Hill Medieval and Post-Medieval Mines — 1.4 miles (2.2 km) SE
Straight-line distance, within 9 miles (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.
- West Sharp Tor was held from the Duke of Cornwall on a 21-year lease from 1849 and first opened in 1850, worked for copper. 1,2
- The mine was worked by a 60-horsepower steam engine installed by William West in 1850. 1,2
- The costbook company had 256 shares with £62 paid, a capital of £15,872, and had spent about £15,000 by 1855. 1
- The mine chimney has been removed and most of the engine house has fallen into the shaft. 2
- Deposited plans of Sharptor West record tin and copper ores. 3
Sources
- (secondary) 1856 Mines in Devon and Cornwall — Grace's Guide
- (secondary) Sharptor — Wikipedia
- (primary) BGS mine plan: Sharptor West (tin and copper ores) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
Record created: 19 October 2026 · Last researched: 19 October 2026