Wheal Lovell

Overview

A Wendron tin mine, later worked as Great Wheal Lovell, managed from 1840 to 1845 by Mrs Lydia Taylor, the only woman known to have run a Cornish mine. By 1873 a cost-book company was working three of its lodes with two pumping engines and 24 heads of water-powered stamps; it was abandoned in 1875.

History

Wheal Lovell, later worked as Great Wheal Lovell, was a Wendron tin mine about three miles from Helston, and one of at least thirty Cornish mines with Lovell in their names. From 1840 to 1845 it was managed by Mrs Lydia Taylor. Cornwall Calling calls her Cornwall's only lady mine manager; the World Heritage Site counts her a notable example of the very few women who appear in the mining records as managers, and associates her also with South Wheal Towan, otherwise known as Wheal Lydia. In 1844 the mine's Western Sett had William Kite of Illogan as purser and agent, succeeding Thomas Johns, formerly of St Agnes, and Captain George Wilkin was one of its earlier captains. By 1873 Great Wheal Lovell was worked by a cost-book company of 4,096 shares on a 21-year lease from 1870, granted by Mr G. Watkin and other lords at dues of one-eighteenth and one-twentieth. The country was granite, with many lodes running east and west; three were being worked, two north and one south, with two steam pumping engines of 50 and 12 inches, two horse whims and 24 heads of stamps driven by water power. Its secretary, Granville Sharp, was in London, and John Bray was purser and resident manager. The mine's abandonment plan, for tin ore, is dated December 1875.

Geology

Granite country with many tin lodes in the sett running east and west and underlying north.

Geological setting: Veins and Lodes (well documented example)

Workings

In 1873 three lodes were being worked, two on the north and one on the south, with two steam pumping engines of 50-inch and 12-inch cylinder, two horse whims and 24 heads of stamps worked by water power, with dressing floors. The mine had a separate Western Sett in 1844.

Closure

The abandonment plan of Great Wheal Lovell, for tin ore, is dated 29 December 1875.

What remains

Unknown.

Unknown.

People

• John Bray · manager, 1873 — Purser and resident manager in 1873.
• Thomas Johns · agent, to 1844 — Former purser and agent of the Western Sett, late of St Agnes.
• William Kite · agent, 1844 — Purser and agent of the Western Sett in 1844, of Illogan.
• Granville Sharp · official, 1873 — Company secretary in 1873, of Gresham Buildings, Basinghall Street, London.
• Lydia Taylor · manager, 1840–1845 — Managed the mine 1840-45; the only woman known to have managed a Cornish mine.
• George Wilkin · manager — An earlier captain of Wheal Lovell, dead by 1853.

Recorded claims

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

• Great Wheal Lovell was worked as Wheal Lovell in 1840-45 under Mrs Lydia Taylor, described as Cornwall's only lady mine manager. ¹
• Lydia Taylor is a notable example of the very occasional women in the mining records, understood to have acted as mine manager at Wheal Lovell, Wendron, in the early 1840s; she is also associated with South Wheal Towan, alternatively Wheal Lydia. ²
• In 1844 the Western Sett of Wheal Lovell had William Kite of Illogan as purser and agent, with Thomas Johns, late of St Agnes but then of Middlesex, as former purser and agent. ¹
• In 1873 Great Wheal Lovell Tin Mine, three miles from Helston, was worked for tin by a cost-book company of 4,096 shares on a 21-year lease from 1870 granted by Mr G. Watkin and other lords at 1/18 and 1/20 dues; three lodes were worked, with 50-inch and 12-inch pumping engines, two horse whims and 24 heads of water-powered stamps. ¹
• The abandonment plan of Wheal Lovell Great, for tin ore, is dated 29 December 1875. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Wheal Lovell Mine, Cornwall — Cornwall Calling
2. (secondary) Women in Mining — Cornish Mining World Heritage Site
3. (primary) Wheal Lovell Great (Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan OM471, via BGS catalogue item 21863357) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (secondary) Wendron Mining District: Delve Deeper (audio trail notes) — Cornish Mining World Heritage Site

Record created: 18 September 2026 · Last researched: 18 September 2026