Wheal Prosper

Overview

Wheal Prosper, on the cliffs near Rinsey west of Porthleven, was a short-lived and financially disappointing venture whose one substantial legacy is the engine house that still stands over Mount's Bay, preserved by the National Trust since 1969 as one of Cornwall's most photographed pieces of mining heritage.

History

Wheal Prosper opened around 1860 to work the Porthcew lode for copper and tin, a short distance from the earlier and larger Wheal Trewavas. Despite its hopeful name, the mine never lived up to it: after only six years of working it closed in 1866, having failed to return a profit. Its single engine house, built to a standard Cornish design with three storeys of killas rubble and dressed granite quoins, housed a 30-inch cylinder Cornish engine used to keep the workings clear of water. The site passed into the care of the National Trust in 1969 and has been preserved since.

Geology

The mine worked the Porthcew lode, part of the same Cornubian orefield of hydrothermal, granite-related mineral veins as the neighbouring Wheal Trewavas.

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

Workings

A single engine shaft was pumped by a 30-inch cylinder engine housed in the surviving clifftop engine house; no detailed depth figure has been located for the mine's workings.

Closure

The mine closed in 1866 after only six years, having failed to return a profit on the Porthcew lode.

What remains

The engine house is a Grade II listed building standing within a Scheduled Monument; the site has been in National Trust care since 1969.

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.

• The mine closed in 1866, only six years after opening around 1860, having failed to return a profit on the Porthcew lode. ¹
• The surviving engine house housed a 30-inch cylinder pumping engine; it is built of killas rubble with dressed granite quoins and stands three storeys high. ^1,2

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Wheal Prosper, Rinsey — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Wheal Prosper Mine — Cornwall Guide

Record created: 22 August 2026 · Last researched: 22 August 2026