Lying in the heart
of the moors of West Penwith, Ding Dong is reputed to be one of the oldest
mines in Cornwall. There are tales that it not only worked 2000
years ago but was visited by Christ and Joseph of Arimathea, however the
earliest
record of it is probably the brief mention given by John Norden
at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1714 three separate mines were
operating: Good Fortune, Wheal Malkin and Hard Shafts Bounds. By the
middle of the 18th century at least seven small concerns had sprung up
although the name Ding Dong did not rise to pre-eminence until the turn of
the 18th century. By 1782 some sixteen workings were known.
Towards the end of the 18th century the mine
became part of the battlefield over a copyright infringement suit brought
about by Messrs Boulton and Watt against Edward Bull. Bull had been
one of the chief engine erectors for the couple but had then started
erecting engines of his own design, with the beam directly beneath the
cylinder instead of above. One of these engines was erected at Ding
Dong in 1797, when a conventional Boulton and Watt engine was inverted by
Richard Trevithick and William West. Attempts to summons the giant
Cornishman were hampered by his threat to throw anyone who tried to stop
him down the engine shaft.
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When Wheal Malkin was sold in 1815 it had two
steam engines, of 18 and 24-inch cylinders. No other engines are
recorded from the area. Ding Dong appears to have worked in its
final form from about 1820, at which time a new 'fire engine' was erected.
By 1834 the mine had two pumping engines (24 and 30-inch) and
two winding
engines (12 and 15-inch). In May 1840 the mine was reported to have
five engines and was working after a brief suspension. By the 1850s
the eastern part of the mine was exhausted and work was concentrating on
the western (Greenburrow, the old Wheal Malkin) section.
By the end of the 1850s the mine employed 206 men and boys, however by
now it was barely paying its operating costs most of the time. The
mine managed to survive the depression in tin prices caused by the
American Civil War although manpower had decreased to 121 men and boys.
Although optimistic reports on the mine were circulated during the 1870s
it
was nearing total exhaustion, exacerbated by the fall in the price of
tin caused by the discovery of the alluvial tin deposits in Queensland.
The mine ceased working on 11 July 1877 following an unsuccessful attempt
to sell it as a going concern at auction.
