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Arsenic Works, Kenidjack Valley, St. Just, Cornwall
The remains of Carn Praunter mine, now partially restored and cleared by the National Trust in 2005. The works were built in the early 1800s and operated until the mine closed in the 1890s. The draught provided by the tall chimney stack would have been fierce - a hurricane of sulphurous gases being disgorged into the atmosphere. In a southerly wind the fallout dropped in the fields over the valley brow and it was said that the ground was poisoned and would not yield a good crop of corn - it is still known as 'the arsenic field'.
The tall chimney stack topped by its distictive brick-cowl has now been replaced after being toppled by a gale in the winter of 1993. The stack served the arched ore roasting chambers where the arsenic was driven off and condensed on the walls of the adjacent 'condensing chambers'. The other ivy-clad buildings dotted around the works housed waterwheel driven crushing/stamping mills
The domed arsenic calciners can clearly be seen. How different this site must have looked less than 100 years ago!
Arsenic Works, Kenidjack Valley, St. Just, Cornwall
The remains of Carn Praunter mine, now partially restored and cleared by the National Trust in 2005. The works were built in the early 1800s and operated until the mine closed in the 1890s. The draught provided by the tall chimney stack would have been fierce - a hurricane of sulphurous gases being disgorged into the atmosphere. In a southerly wind the fallout dropped in the fields over the valley brow and it was said that the ground was poisoned and would not yield a good crop of corn - it is still known as 'the arsenic field'.
The tall chimney stack topped by its distictive brick-cowl has now been replaced after being toppled by a gale in the winter of 1993. The stack served the arched ore roasting chambers where the arsenic was driven off and condensed on the walls of the adjacent 'condensing chambers'. The other ivy-clad buildings dotted around the works housed waterwheel driven crushing/stamping mills
The domed arsenic calciners can clearly be seen. How different this site must have looked less than 100 years ago!