Wheal Cupboard

Overview

A Gwennap copper mine that, together with Ale and Cakes Mine and Poldory, amalgamated around 1780 to form United Mines -- rebuilt into profitability by the engineer John Taylor in the 1820s -- before closing around 1870 as part of Clifford Amalgamated Mines.

History

Wheal Cupboard was working south of the Great Consolidated Mines in Gwennap parish before 1780, when it amalgamated with the neighbouring Ale and Cakes Mine and Poldory to form United Mines, the last of the group's three founding mines. The combined operation was formally constituted under that name in 1815, and later expanded further to take in East Ale and Cakes Mine, Wheal Britannia, Wheal Clifford, Wheal Moor, Wheal Squire and Wheal Andrew (Friendship Mines), all within about a kilometre of United Downs, worked mainly on the Great South Lode and, further north, the Hot Lode, named for its extreme temperatures at greater depth. In the early 1820s the mining engineer John Taylor acquired the lease of these largely abandoned Gwennap workings and rebuilt them into profitability, striking what was at the time the richest copper lode in the world; the mines were well in profit by 1822, and Taylor went on to build his own mineral railway, the Redruth and Chasewater line to Devoran, opened in 1824. At its 19th-century peak the United Mines group's underground workings extended some 80 miles, driven by 22 operating engines; between 1815 and 1861 the group as a whole raised 347,500 tons of 7.5%-grade copper ore, alongside 250 tons of black tin, 158 tons of arsenic, 1,290 tons of pyrite and 271 tons of zinc ore. United Mines merged with the neighbouring Consolidated Mines in 1857 to form Clifford Amalgamated Mines, which continued operating, increasingly unprofitably, until closure around 1870 as metals discovered elsewhere in the world depressed global prices.

Workings

One of the three founding mines of United Mines, whose combined 19th-century workings extended some 80 miles underground and were served by 22 operating engines and, from 1824, John Taylor's own Redruth and Chasewater mineral railway to Devoran.

Closure

Closed around 1870 as part of Clifford Amalgamated Mines, following declining global metal prices.

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.

• Wheal Cupboard was the third and final of the three founding mines of United Mines, amalgamating with Ale and Cakes Mine and Poldory around 1780, formally constituted under that name in 1815. ^1,2
• In the early 1820s John Taylor rebuilt the largely abandoned United Mines workings into profitability; between 1815 and 1861 the group raised 347,500 tons of 7.5%-grade copper ore alongside black tin, arsenic, pyrite and zinc ore, before merging into Clifford Amalgamated Mines in 1857 and closing around 1870. ¹

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) United Mines — Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
2. (secondary) United Mines, Gwennap Cornwall — Cornwall Calling

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 31 August 2026