Cusvey (Coosvea/Coosvean/Cuzveth) lies at the eastern end of the parish of Gwennap, immediately to the north-east of Wheal Fortune Mine, and for most of their existence the two mine setts were associated together. Tin dues for Cusvey ('Cuzveth') were paid to the Manor of Cusgarne between 1734 and 1764. A plan of Cusgarne Common, from about 1780, shows a mineralised structure, known as Bread and Cheese Lode, lying along the southern side of Cusvey. This was probably the tin lode which was exploited first on the site.

By 1790 Wheal Fortune was an important copper producer, and the lodes in Cusvey section were a significant part of the mine. By the end of the 1790s Wheal Fortune and Cusvey were making considerable profits. In 1819 Richard Thomas reported that although the mines were idle, they had made considerable profits, and the setts were then being incorporated into John Taylor's Consolidated Mines, which was to become the largest copper producer in the world.
 

Back to top^

Thomas's map of the Camborne to Chacewater mining district, of 1819, shows the workings at 'Coosvea', and his plan of Consolidated Mines, drawn for Taylor in 1821, shows 'Coosvea Lode' running just south of Coosvea Shaft and Coosvea East Shaft. Both shafts had horse whims alongside, and neither had a pumping engine. The underground workings were drained by the pumps at Wheal Fortune, to the north-west.

The importance of these eastern Consolidated workings can be gauged by the fact that in 1826, within a few years of starting the enterprise, a 90-inch pumping engine was erected at Woolf's Shaft, on Wheal Fortune, and a 70-inch cylinder engine was placed on Shear's Shaft at Cusvey. The engine house still standing there is one of the oldest in Cornwall, although younger than the whim engine house. The 70-inch was later replaced by a 65-inch engine.

When Consolidated Mines were taken over by United Mines and finally worked as part of Clifford Amalgamated Mines, Cusvey played a gradually diminishing role in local copper production. By 1870 the whole group closed and Wheal Fortune and Cusvey had their remaining engines and machinery sold or scrapped.

Back to top^

More>> 

Back to list of mines