Wheal Agar

Overview

Wheal Agar worked the copper and tin ground at Illogan between Pool and Redruth, in the middle of the richest mining district in Cornwall. The Lists of Mines show it at its height in the mid-1880s: 254 people in 1883, 351 in 1885 and 400 in 1887, raising tin and copper and adding arsenic by 1887. It was worked at 235 fathoms below the adit through a single shaft with one skip road. On the morning of 15 August 1883 the capstan rope broke ten feet above the shackle as a cage of thirteen men reached the landing brace, and twelve of them fell the length of the shaft. By 1896 the mine employed twenty-three people.

History

Wheal Agar was worked by the Wheal Agar Adventurers in the Illogan sett, on the belt of ground running from Camborne through Pool to Redruth that carried East Pool, Tincroft and South Crofty. The Lists of Mines record 254 people in 1883, of whom 136 worked below ground, raising tin and copper; the workforce rose to 351 in 1885 and 400 in 1887, with arsenic added to the return that year. By then more than half the workforce was on the surface, which is the usual shape of a mine dressing low-grade tin. At the time of the 1883 accident the mine was being worked at 235 fathoms below the adit, or 253 fathoms from the surface, with a single shaft and one skip road. For some months before, men had been raised and lowered by the winding machinery in a two-decked cage holding up to ten. The Inspector of Mines thought the shaft ill-suited to the purpose: it changed its inclination several times, which made rolls necessary to brake the engine. On 15 August 1883 a damaged winding rope was being repaired, and rather than send the men up the ladders the agent ordered the cage onto the capstan rope. It broke on the third trip and twelve men were killed (see Disasters, below). The mine's returns fall away sharply afterwards — 262 people in 1894 and only 23 in 1896 — though the collapse owes more to the price of tin than to the accident. Wheal Agar was later worked with the neighbouring East Pool sett as East Pool and Agar.

Geology

Wheal Agar lies on the Camborne-Redruth mineral belt, where the granite of the Carnmenellis cupola drove hot fluids up into the killas above it and left lodes carrying copper at the shallower levels and tin at depth, with arsenic among them. The mine's own returns follow that sequence: tin and copper together in 1883, and arsenic from 1887.

Geological setting: Hydrothermal Deposits (well documented example), Veins and Lodes (well documented example)

Workings

A single shaft with one skip road, worked at 235 fathoms below the adit — 253 fathoms from the surface — by 1883. Men rode in a two-decked cage holding up to ten. The shaft changed its inclination several times, which the Inspector of Mines judged made it poorly suited to raising and lowering men. The drawing engine, disconnected from the winding drum, worked the capstan drum; at its normal speed the capstan took about eighteen minutes to bring the cage up 213 fathoms from the 195-fathom level, against about five minutes on the winding drum, and there was no indicator on the capstan to show where the cage was.

Closure

No closure date has been found for Wheal Agar under its own name. The Lists of Mines return 262 people in 1894 and 23 in 1896, and the sett was afterwards worked with its neighbour as East Pool and Agar. The 1880s and 1890s collapse in the Cornish tin price, not the 1883 accident, is what emptied the mine.

What remains

Nothing identifiable of Wheal Agar has been traced. Its ground at Pool is now built over, and the surviving engine houses nearby — Michell's Whim and Taylor's shaft — belong to the neighbouring East Pool mine, in the care of the National Trust.

Nearby mines

• West Tolgus Mine — 0.2 km NE
• East Pool Mine — 0.4 km N
• Wheal Buller — 0.6 km S
• South Crofty — 1.1 km SW
• Wheal Uny — 1.2 km E

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

Disasters & major incidents

• Wheal Agar Shaft Accident
  15 August 1883 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 12 fatalities
  At about seven on the morning of 15 August 1883, a cage carrying thirteen men reached the landing brace at Wheal Agar in Illogan. One man jumped off. At that moment the capstan rope broke ten feet above the shackle, and the cage fell the length of the shaft with the other twelve men in and on it. All twelve were killed. The rope had been in use at least two years, was internally corroded where it parted, and the corrosion had been hidden by layers of tar and grease. The men were on the capstan rope at all only because the winding rope was under repair, and the agent had chosen not to send them up the ladders while the work was finished.

Recorded claims

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

• The Lists of Mines record 254 people in 1883, 351 in 1885, 400 in 1887, 262 in 1894 and 23 in 1896. ¹
• The mine returned tin and copper in 1883 and 1885, and tin, copper and arsenic from 1887. ¹
• At the time of the 1883 accident the mine was being worked at 235 fathoms below the adit, or 253 fathoms from the surface, with a single shaft and one skip road. ²
• The Inspector of Mines thought the shaft was not a good one for raising and lowering men, because it changed its inclination several times, which made the use of rolls to brake the engine necessary. ²
• Worked from the capstan drum the cage took about eighteen minutes to rise 213 fathoms from the 195-fathom level, against about five minutes on the winding drum, and there was no indicator on the capstan to show the cage's position. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Wheal Agar — Durham Mining Museum, from the Mines Inspectors Reports and the Lists of Mines
2. (primary) Wheal Agar Shaft Accident, Redruth, 1883 — Northern Mine Research Society, after the Inspector of Mines report and the inquest (read via a 2024 Wayback Machine capture)
3. (secondary) The Wheal Agar Disaster of 1883 — Cornish Story, Institute of Cornish Studies
4. (secondary) Wheal Agar — Grace's Guide to British Industrial History

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026