Formation | 1935 |
---|---|
Type | Non-profit |
Purpose | Education |
Location |
|
Coordinates | 50°12′49.14″N5°18′4.5″W / 50.2136500°N 5.301250°W |
Region served | International |
Official language | English |
Chairman | Philip Hosken |
Public Relations | Kenn Shearer |
Membership Secretary | Sheila Saunders |
Website | Trevithick Society |
Formerly called | Cornish Engines Preservation Committee |
The Trevithick Society is a registered charity named for Richard Trevithick, a Cornish engineer who contributed to the use of high pressure steam engines for transportation and mining applications.
In 1935 the Cornish Engines Preservation Committee (CEPC) was formed to rescue the Levant winding engine which was deemed outdated and scheduled to be scrapped. CEPC were forerunners in the field of Industrial Archaeology. They acquired another winding engine and two pumping engines. CEPC merged with the newly formed Cornish Waterwheel Preservation Society in 1971 and named the organisation the Trevithick Society after Richard Trevithick. [1]
At Chapel Coombe a set of old Cornish stamps has been re-erected by the Trevithick Society. [2]
Dolcoath was the largest and deepest mine in Cornwall, with its principal shaft, known as New Sump Shaft, eventually reaching a depth of 3,300 feet (1,000 m) below the surface. [3] The pumping engine that worked this shaft dated from 1815; a piece of the cast iron bob from this engine is preserved in the collection of the Trevithick Society. [4]
Although founded in Cornwall, members are located across England and the world. An annual celebration is held to celebrate Richard Trevithick's life in Cornwall at Camborne. [5]
Membership is offered to students, individuals and corporations domestically and internationally. Members receive the quarterly newsletter. All members, except students who receive a discounted membership fee, receive the annual journal. Members may attend Cornish Engines (free), Geevor Tin Mine (free), lectures, activities and the Society's annual meeting. [6]
The organisation produces the Journal of the Trevithick Society [7] annually and a newsletter quarterly. The purpose of the journal is: "For the study of history of industry and technology in Cornwall." [6] [8]
Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He was an early pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transport, and his most significant contributions were the development of the first high-pressure steam engine and the first working railway steam locomotive. The world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
Camborne is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth and Deadman's Cove.
Porthtowan is a small village in Cornwall, UK, which is a popular summer tourist destination. Porthtowan is on Cornwall's north Atlantic coast about 2 km (1.2 mi) west of St Agnes, 4 km (2.5 mi) north of Redruth, 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Truro and 15 km (9.3 mi) southwest of Newquay in the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a World Heritage Site.
Geevor Tin Mine, formerly North Levant Mine is a tin mine in the far west of Cornwall, England, between the villages of Pendeen and Trewellard. It was operational between 1911 and 1990 during which time it produced about 50,000 tons of black tin. It is now a museum and heritage centre left as a living history of a working tin mine. The museum is an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage. Since 2006, the mine has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.
The King Edward Mine at Camborne, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom is a mine wholly owned by Cornwall Council.
Mining in Cornwall and Devon, in the southwest of Britain, is thought to have begun in the early-middle Bronze Age with the exploitation of cassiterite. Tin, and later copper, were the most commonly extracted metals. Some tin mining continued long after the mining of other metals had become unprofitable, but ended in the late 20th century. In 2021, it was announced that a new mine was extracting battery-grade lithium carbonate, more than 20 years after the closure of the last South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall in 1998.
Gwennap is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is about five miles (8 km) southeast of Redruth. Hamlets of Burncoose, Comford, Coombe, Crofthandy, Cusgarne, Fernsplatt, Frogpool, Hick's Mill, Tresamble and United Downs lie in the parish, as does Little Beside country house.
A Cornish engine is a type of steam engine developed in Cornwall, England, mainly for pumping water from a mine. It is a form of beam engine that uses steam at a higher pressure than the earlier engines designed by James Watt. The engines were also used for powering man engines to assist the underground miners' journeys to and from their working levels, for winching materials into and out of the mine, and for powering on-site ore stamping machinery.
Dolcoath mine was a copper and tin mine in Camborne, Cornwall, United Kingdom. Its name derives from the Cornish for 'Old Ground', and it was also affectionately known as The Queen of Cornish Mines. The site is north-west of Carn Brea. Dolcoath Road runs between the A3047 road and Chapel Hill. The site is south of this road.
Pool is a village in Carn Brea civil parish in west Cornwall, England. It is bypassed by the A30, on the A3047 between Camborne and Redruth, between Tuckingmill and Illogan Highway.
Holman Brothers Ltd. was a mining equipment manufacturer founded in 1801 based in Camborne, Cornwall, England.
East Pool mine, was a metalliferous mine in the Camborne and Redruth mining area, just east of the village of Pool in Cornwall. Worked from the early 18th century until 1945, first for copper and later tin, it was very profitable for much of its life. Today the site has two preserved beam engines and is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. It is owned by the National Trust.
The Ding Dong mines lie in an old and extensive mining area situated in the parish of Madron, in Penwith, Cornwall, England. They are about two miles north east of the St Just to Penzance road. They look out over Mount's Bay and St Michael's Mount to the south west. Since 2006 the site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, part of Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.
Wheal Coates is a former tin mine situated on the north coast of Cornwall, UK, on the cliff tops between Porthtowan and St Agnes. It is preserved and maintained by the National Trust.
Wheal Kitty is a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is located about half a mile north east of St Agnes on the Goonlaze Downs plateau. It contains the headquarters of Surfers Against Sewage.
Wheal Metal is a tin-mining sett in west Cornwall, England, UK. Whilst not as famous as neighbouring Wheal Vor, it was thus described by the Mining Journal in July 1885: " Truly this is a wonderful mine—probably the richest tin mine in the world." It also hosts a very remarkable engine house of the mid-19th century that once stood over Trelawney's shaft on Wheal Vor, and since the Wheal Vor area itself has no visible remains, this is the only large surviving engine house of this group of mines which accounted for over a quarter of Cornish tin production in the mid-19th century.
Cape Cornwall Mine was a tin mine on Cape Cornwall, a cape at the western tip of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It operated intermittently between 1838 and 1883, after which time it closed permanently and the engine house was demolished. The mine's 1864 chimney near the peak of the cape was retained as an aid to navigation, and in the early 20th century the former ore dressing floors were for a time converted into greenhouses and wineries. In 1987 the site was donated to the nation by the H. J. Heinz Company. The remains of Cape Cornwall Mine now form part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
South Wheal Frances is a former mine accessing the copper and tin of the Great Flat Lode south of Camborne in Cornwall, England.
Francisco Uville was a Swiss entrepreneur who helped introduce steam engines into the mining industry of Peru. Through his efforts engines designed and built by the Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick were shipped to Peru and carried high over the Andes to the silver mines, where they were used to pump water and hoist ore. Uville went well beyond the mandate agreed with his partners in his arrangements to obtain the equipment. He died before seeing the enterprise collapse in 1820 during the Peruvian War of Independence.
Basset Mines was a mining company formed in Cornwall, England, by the amalgamation of six copper and tin mining setts. It operated from 1896 until 1918, when it was closed due to a fall in the price of tin.