Upper Crown Engine House Botallack
by Terri Waters
Title
Upper Crown Engine House Botallack
Artist
Terri Waters
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The iconic engines houses at Botallack are probably the most photographed in Cornwall.
There are two engine houses at the Crowns. The lower house held a 30-inch pumping engine, built in 1835 to replace a smaller engine at the same location. It was built on the bare rock with no foundations, the rocks being bolted and mortared in place.This building weighs around 1200 tons, all brought down the cliff. In addition the metal work weight about 100 tons. Above this is the winder for the Boscawen Diagonal Shaft, built in about 1860. The boiler was brought from a boiler house on the cliff to the north.
Above these engine houses are the remains of two others, the Wheal Hazard whim to the south and the Carn whim directly over the Crowns which raised ore from the surface of the Crowns section and also drove rollers for crushing copper ore. The stack and engine bed-stone still remain here.
The Crowns engine houses pumped water from the undersea levels and hauled minerals and men up the shaft. The slopes above were filled with men, women and children working on the dressing floors.
Botallack is often referred to as the submarine mine. The tunnels which run underneath the old engine houses travel out under the Atlantic for more than a mile, forming a vast industrial complex under the waves. For this reason Botallack was well known and became almost a tourist attraction for royalty and adventurers.
Among the famous visitors to go down the mine at Botallack were Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort in 1846, and The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall in 1863. Wilkie Collins the novelist wrote a terrifying account of his descent down into the mine in 1850, when he reported that he could hear the roar of the surf above his head.
Above the cliffs there was a widespread mine layout with eleven steam engines. There was also a Count-house where mine workers would come on a monthly basis to be paid. In 1865 Botallack employed 500 people.
Between 1907 and 1914 Botallack was reworked. Arsenic flues and a stack were built on the cliff top.
Despite sporadic re-openings, Botallack finally closed in February 1914 and despite efforts to investigate new workings, it never reopened.
Uploaded
November 9th, 2013
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