Wheal Edward

Wheal Edward
This building contained the engine that powered the stamps, used for breaking up the ore.
© Copyright Tony Atkin and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Wheal Edward Mine lies between the villages of Pendeen and St. Just on the edge of the cliffs. The mine is surrounded to the north by the Crowns mine at Botallack and to the east by Wheal Owles.

The mine worked the copper and tin lodes via an incline shaft extending out under the sea. The surrounding Greenstone rock is very hard, which made the driving of levels and sinking of shafts very difficult.

The mine closed in 1893 due to flooding when the adjacent West Wheal Owles broke into the flooded workings of Wheal Drea, resulting in the deaths of 30 miners.