Julie2owlsdene wrote: ↑02 Sep 2021, 17:55
Mining used to be the main industry many years ago down here, Pete. There's disused tin mines all over Cornwall. And dangerous shafts now made safe and blocked up. I believe a few are still open in the Redruth area for visitors to experience what it must have been like. All part of the Cornish history now long gone.
Yes, I've been to a couple of preserved tin mines during holidays in Cornwall. The
"Poldark Mine" near Helston (real name Wheal Roots, but naming it after the famous series grabs more people's attention, obviously) is an 18th-century mine that was abandoned before modern machinery was invented, so it gives one a sense of what mining must have been like for most of its very long history in Cornwall. I've also visited a modern one,
Geevor Tin Mine near Penzance, much of which has been preserved exactly as it was when the mine — one of the last operating ones in Cornwall — closed down in 1987.
I can't pretend to make head nor tail of all the technicalities of mining (ancient or modern) — and it's not a job I would ever want to do even if I were a bloke — but it's fascinating from a historical standpoint!
dsr wrote: ↑02 Sep 2021, 22:47
Barnard wrote: ↑02 Sep 2021, 18:51
In the 1970s tv series The Goodies, on one occasion, when Tim, Graeme and Bill were prospecting in Cornwall, they found a cream mine followed by a scone and jam mine.
Does anybody else remember this particular episode?
The Bunfight at the OK Tearoom. Possibly the finest half-hour of comedy, ever, in the world. I think so anyway.
I hope they put the jam on first...