Tin mine in Cornwall.
Wheal Coates tin mine opened in 1802 and worked until 1889. The image of the Towanroath Shaft engine house, famous on postcards, calendars, and on the telly represents for many the serene beauty of the north Cornish coast. In reality this industrial landscape holds a harsh and austere history.
The life of a Cornish miner was a tough.
Working deep underground in cramped and stifling conditions meant that miners were thought of as worn out and old by the time they were 40. The air in the mine was thick with powder smoke, dust and fumes from rock blasting that miners often coughed up black phlegm. Many suffered with bronchitis, silicosis, TB and rheumatism. Accidents caused by explosions, falling, rock falls, drowning and entanglement in machinery were a real danger and took many lives.
Woman were employed as Bal maidens, wielding hammers and crushing copper ore into smaller fragments. By the early nineteenth century over 7000 children were working in Cornish mines, initially above ground doing menial tasks, but when they were twelve they joined their fathers underground.
