Mines and Miners of Cornwall and Devon


Book Description

The eminent historian and author of The Rise of King Cotton uncovers the centuries-old story of tin mining in Southern England. Tin mining has existed in Cornwall and parts of Devon since before the Romans arrived in Britain. In this book, historian Anthony Burton explores the region’s tin mining industry from its earliest period through to the present day. A specialist in the history of technology, Burton examines the evolution of extraction methods from primitive pick and shovel operations to the later use of explosives, the rise of steam power, and beyond. Burton also looks at the changing politics and economics of the tin mining industry over the centuries.




Stannary Law


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Cornish Rocks and Minerals


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This text looks at different regions of Cornwall and examples of rock and minerals found there.







The Cornish Miner


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Bal Maidens


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Between 1720 and 1920 at least 60,000 women and girls worked in the mines, quarries and clay works of Cornwall and Devon. They carried out hard, skilled and specialised work, which was a crucial part of the dressing operations. The author has carefully researched their working lives and home-life, their characteristics and the occupational hazards they encountered. How essential were they to the industry? What were their working conditions? How much did they earn? What did they do with the very little spare time and money they had? As the mines closed, where did they go and what happened to them? This is the record of a remarkable group of women, plus some individual accounts of the few whose stories have survived. In this second edition the material has been both revised and expanded. The geographical scope now extended to Dartmoor, and the Teign and Exe Valleys. There is also a more detailed coverage of the tin streams of the late 19th century.







Bella Poldark


Book Description

Bella Poldark is the twelfth and final novel in Winston Graham's hugely popular Poldark series, and continues the story after the fifth TV series, which has become a television phenomenon starring Aidan Turner. The enchanting saga of Ross, Demelza and the Poldark family concludes in this, the last book in the epic series. Bella, the Poldarks’ youngest daughter, is a precociously talented singer and is encouraged to pursue a career by her old flame and by a distinguished French conductor who has more in mind than Bella’s music . . . Meanwhile, Valentine Warleggan, whose existence keeps open the old wounds of the feud between Ross and George, leads an increasingly wayward existence. And Clowance, the Poldarks’ widowed daughter, is considering remarrying to one of two rival suitors. But a cloud hangs over Cornwall, as a murderer stalks the villages looking for new victims . . . 'From the incomparable Winston Graham . . . who has everything that anyone else has, and then a whole lot more. - Guardian