Wheal Treasury

Overview

A copper and tin mine on Gwinear and Burnt Downs north of Leedstown, worked with Wheal Tremayne, where the young Richard Trevithick went to work with his father in the 1790s.

History

Wheal Treasury and Wheal Tremayne were two closely related setts at Leedstown, in Crowan and Gwinear parishes, worked together from 1815 to 1870. Wheal Treasury was worked earlier: James Watt had supplied it with an engine, and in 1793 he wrote to Truro asking for the agreement under which the adventurers at Wheal Treasury had undertaken to pay a monthly sum for the engine moved there from Halamanning. Richard Trevithick went to work with his father at Wheal Treasury and soon showed his gift for engineering; after improving the Bull engine in 1796 he was made engineer of Ding Dong mine near Penzance.

In 1856 Treasury United lay in the parishes of Crowan and Gwinear within the Rev. H. M. St Aubyn's manor, four miles from Camborne, two from Gwinear Road station and five from Hayle, its shipping place; it was held on a 21-year lease from St Aubyn, with Thomas Richards of Hayle as purser and William Rosewarne and John Lean as captains. The adjoining Wheal Tremayne had two pumping engines of 50 and 60 inches, a 20-inch stamping engine and an 18-inch winding engine; it sold £7,650 of tin ore and £355 of copper ore in 1855 and paid dividends each year from 1851 to 1854. Together the two setts produced 12,000 tons of copper ore and 1,490 tons of tin. Extensive shafts and dumps remain on Gwinear Downs and Burnt Downs, north to north-east of Leedstown.

Geology

Copper and tin lodes.

Workings

Shafts with a Watt engine (by 1793); at Wheal Tremayne in 1856, 50-inch and 60-inch pumping engines, a 20-inch stamping engine and an 18-inch winding engine.

Closure

Worked with Wheal Tremayne until 1870.

What remains

Extensive shafts and dumps on Gwinear Downs and Burnt Downs.

Shafts and dumps.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Halamanning Mine — Wheal Treasury's engine of the 1790s was moved there from Halamanning.

Recorded claims

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

• Wheal Tremayne, including Wheal Treasury, at Leedstown were two closely related setts worked from 1815 to 1870. ¹
• In 1793 James Watt wrote of the agreement under which the Wheal Treasury adventurers paid a monthly sum for the engine moved there from Halamanning. ¹
• Richard Trevithick went to work with his father at Wheal Treasury and soon showed an aptitude for engineering. ¹
• The setts produced 12,000 tons of copper and 1,490 tons of tin. ¹
• In 1856 Treasury United was in the parishes of Crowan and Gwinear, held on a 21-year lease from the Rev. H. M. St Aubyn; the purser was Thomas Richards of Hayle. ²
• In 1855 Wheal Tremayne sold £7,650 9s. 10d. of tin ore and £355 10s. 8d. of copper ore; it had 50-inch and 60-inch pumping engines. ²
• Extensive shafts and dumps can be seen on Gwinear Downs and Burnt Downs, north to north-east of Leedstown. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Wheal Treasury Mine — Cornwall Calling
2. (secondary) 1856 Mines in Devon and Cornwall — Grace's Guide

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