Mining Gallery

Dolcoath Mine, Camborne, Cornwall. 1893

The Man Engine at 234 fathoms level below adit, in 1893. The man engine went down to the 314 fathom level. Miners can be seen standing on the steps of the engine rod while others stand on solars or platforms fixed in the shaft at intervals of 12 feet. The man engine made 5 strokes a minute, thus enabling men to ride up or down 60 feet a minute. Ordinary ladders were fixed alongside the man engine or against the footwall of the lode. Photographer: John Charles Burrow

© From the collection of the RIC

New Cooks Kitchen, Illogan, Cornwall. Early 1900s

Chappel's (engine) shaft at the 406 level. This shows a typical Cornish kibble, with curved sides to prevent snagging, which has been hoisted from below by an air winch and its contents dumped into a tram. The pipe running from top left to centre bottom follows the dip or underlie of the lode and took compressed air to the rock drill working at a deeper level shown in the photograph at the bottom of Engine Shaft. Photographer: John Charles Burrow (1852-1914)

© From the collection of the RIC

Cornish wrestling group, Randfontein, Transvaal, South Africa. Around 1900

Cornish wrestlers, officials, trophies and prizes pictured outside what appears to be the Transvaal miner's sports clubhouse. Cornishmen Jack and Sydney Chapman are sitting second and third from left in the front row. Jack and Sydney were part of the well known Chapman family of Cornish wrestlers from the St Columb area in Cornwall. Photographer: Unknown

© From the collection of the RIC