This ABANDONED MINE had SO MANY surprises! MINE EXPLORATION in Cornwall, UK.

We started the 2023 mine exploration with this absolute gem of a trip. Back in January we ventured into previously unexplored sections of a well-known mine in St. Just, Cornwall, UK.

Despite being VERY familiar with other parts of this mine (hint: it’s where we run our tours [see below]), there are still sections of this mine we hadn’t explored. It was high time we set that to rights. On a wet and windy day in January, we descended 50 metres down the main shaft of this mine. Our quest was to reach a cross-cutting deep adit that has never been explored.

We didn’t find it, but instead we found one discovery after another. Each time we found something new, we were thrilled, as we would have been the first people to see this in a hundred years. The last people to have seen these spaces would have been the miners themselves, a century ago.
This mine has a long and very important history in Cornwall. With written records dating back to the late 1700s, its working life is even older. It is the oldest mine to be named on a map in Cornwall. A map which dates from the 1500s!

Whilst much of what we explored on this trip dates from the last working phase of this mine, in the early 20th century, we also encountered some much older workings that are likely 3-, or even 400 years old.

Come and explore Cornwall’s hidden mining past on one of our guided mine exploration trips: https://cornwallunderground.co.uk/

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