PhotoTour: Towan Roath Shaft, Wheal Coates

Poole Navigation Minehead
Map Ref: SW698050 (locate via StreetMap)
Distances: Poole: 422m 675km, Minehead: 208m 332km

Wheal Coates	Perranporth Area

Standing high on the cliffs overlooking Chapel Porth and the coast stretching away to St Ives Bay is the Towanroath engine house once belonging to the Wheal Coates mine.

Wheal is Cornish for a mine. Similar buildings are to be found all over the County. Some are ruins, some are private dwellings, this one has been part-restored by the National Trust. At Levant an engine house has been completely restored, including the steam engine.

These buildings housed stationary beam engines and were used either for pumping water out of the mine, or for lifting ore to the surface (known as a Whim Engine). A few even acted as lifts, carrying men to and from the surface.

Wheal Coates has had a long history, with references to mining on the site dating from 1692. The Towanroath engine was built in 1872 and was used to unwater the mine. The mine closed many times in its life, but finally closed after the First World War.

A CDROM version of the PhotoTour with over 540 high-quality photos of larger size is available from the Association's shop.

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