Wheal Phoenix, Phoenix United Mine, Minions, Linkinhorne, Cornwall, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
Wheal Phoenix	Mine (Abandoned)
Phoenix United Mine	Mine (Abandoned)
Minions	Village
Linkinhorne	Civil Parish
Cornwall	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

Up on Stowe’s Hill north of Minions village are the scant remains of Stowe’s Mine. Little remains of this small workings except some huge craters and concrete machinery bases. The first records of mining in this area were at ‘Stowe’s Ende’ where the miners followed a lode that ran up the hill. The area must have been mined prior to the 19th century, as in 1824 it was combined with Wheal Jenkin and an engine was installed; this operation only operated on a loss and came to halt after just a year. In 1836 Stowe’s Mine was amalgamated into Cornwall Great United Mines under the name Wheal Julia, alongside Greenhills, Wheal Prosper and Wheal Jenkin with the intention to work them all as one tin mine. Like its predecessor, this mine operation quickly accumulated debts and was forced to close.

When Cornwall Great United Mines was bought by James Seccombe in 1842 he subsequently renamed it Wheal Phoenix (Phoenix Mine) in 1844. From 1842, Stowe’s was worked as part of Wheal Phoenix, but this section once again failed to make profits and two years later it was abandoned while the rest of the sett carried on.

Wheal Phoenix was subsequently called Phoenix United Mine when West Phoenix Mine was incorporated in 1875. Phoenix United Mine originally extracted copper, the 1850s being the mine's peak production of the metal, but by the 1860s copper reserves were diminishing. However, consultant mining engineer William West bought a controlling share in the company and equipped the mine to extract tin in 1864 after samples showed evidence of tin deposits. The Liskeard and Caradon Railway was used to transport the ore away and supply the mine with coal.

Little happened with Stowe’s Mine until 1870 when it was taken up again by Phoenix United and for once it proved to be successful, however the cost of pumping the whole sett soon became expensive. A fire in the miners dry in 1888 sealed its fate as another costly venture, and by the 1890s, Stowe’s was forced to close. With the price of tin and copper slumping, the West Phoenix Mine also eventually ceased operation in 1898 and the final shaft, the Prince of Wales shaft, was closed in 1914.

The final reworking had occurred between 1907 and 1914 where the entire sett was retried again by Phoenix United. This included the installation of a new compressor engine at Stowe’s shaft. With the sinking of the Prince of Wales shaft, the majority of the pumping was going to be done from there. However, as sampling of the mine continued they discovered that the previous miners had been much more thorough stripping the mine of ore than thought and consequently Stowe’s section was closed for the final time.

Shafts at Stowe’s Mine consisted of Stowe’s (80 fathoms/146m), Old Stowe’s, Jope/Moon’s/New Engine, Anna’s (112 fathoms/205m), Redburrow, Hard, Harriet’s, Mary’s and Tom’s.

During its life Stowe’s did not use a lot of equipment, however it was the host to the only Newcomen engine in East Cornwall, erected in 1730. It also had a 22″ or 25″ rotative engine, an engine house in 1824 and a stamps engine in 1836. The last reworking saw the building of concrete mountings for a whim and the installation of a horizontal 120 HP compressor engine.

Geochronology

Geologic Time				Rocks, Minerals and Events
Phanerozoic
	Paleozoic
		Permian
			Guadalupian	ⓘ Major polymetallic mineralization ~270 Ma Cornwall, England, UK
			Cisuralian	ⓘ Porphyry dikes intruded (latest age) ~275 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Greisenization (latest age) ~280 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Porphyry dikes intruded (earliest age) ~280 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Formation of metallized pegmatites ~285 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Greisenization (earliest age) ~285 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Emplacement of major plutons ~295 Ma Cornwall, England, UK

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References