Foraging
The Caradon Mining District is a rugged, windswept and mostly treeless area. It sits high up in a remote but beautiful corner of Bodmin Moor. Surrounded by gorse, wildlife and mining settlements, where the engine houses stand stark against the open moorland.
Rising dramatically from the surrounding plain, the granite dome of Caradon Hill dominates the Area and is encircled by engine houses, chimney stacks, thousands of tonnes of waste rock from the various mines and quarries, and the track bed of the Liskeard & Caradon Railway.
These remains tell a story of boom and bust: the rise of copper mining here established new settlements and expanded others, but the explosion of mining activity within this formerly isolated landscape was to last barely 50 years.
The Caradon Hill copper boom began in the 1830s after the discovery of a large copper deposit at the South Caradon Mine. The mine was the third largest producer of copper in Cornwall and the west of England for 50 years.
The mining industry in Cornwall began to decline in the mid-19th century due to cheap foreign competition. The price of tin and copper fell, and many workers were made redundant. The last mines on Caradon Hill closed in the 1890s.
The Caradon Hill area is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is full of mining remains. The area is open to the public to walk across, but there are some safety restrictions.
Adapted from:
www.cornishmining.org.uk/areas/caradon-mining-district
Foraging
The Caradon Mining District is a rugged, windswept and mostly treeless area. It sits high up in a remote but beautiful corner of Bodmin Moor. Surrounded by gorse, wildlife and mining settlements, where the engine houses stand stark against the open moorland.
Rising dramatically from the surrounding plain, the granite dome of Caradon Hill dominates the Area and is encircled by engine houses, chimney stacks, thousands of tonnes of waste rock from the various mines and quarries, and the track bed of the Liskeard & Caradon Railway.
These remains tell a story of boom and bust: the rise of copper mining here established new settlements and expanded others, but the explosion of mining activity within this formerly isolated landscape was to last barely 50 years.
The Caradon Hill copper boom began in the 1830s after the discovery of a large copper deposit at the South Caradon Mine. The mine was the third largest producer of copper in Cornwall and the west of England for 50 years.
The mining industry in Cornwall began to decline in the mid-19th century due to cheap foreign competition. The price of tin and copper fell, and many workers were made redundant. The last mines on Caradon Hill closed in the 1890s.
The Caradon Hill area is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is full of mining remains. The area is open to the public to walk across, but there are some safety restrictions.
Adapted from:
www.cornishmining.org.uk/areas/caradon-mining-district