Botallack Tin Mine

Original Photographic Print of the engine houses at Botallack Mine in Cornwall.

The remains of the buildings at Botallack show the brutal dangers of mining in Cornwall. During the 19th century over 100 engine houses were in place in the St Just area.
Early mining records date from at least the 1500s.

Botallack was a submarine mine with its workings reaching half a mile out under the seabed. Many of these workings would have been produced with hammers, chisels and gunpowder, and produced around 14,500 tonnes of tin, 20,000 tonnes of copper and 1,500 tonnes of refined arsenic.

The Botallack mine closed in 1895 due to rapidly falling copper and tin prices. 
Most other Cornish mines had already closed by this time. 

This photograph was taken on 26 September 2024.