King Edward Mine Museum awarded almost £50k
3:33pm Friday 12th October 2012 in News
The King Edward Mine Museum near Camborne has been awarded a grant of £35,700 by the Heritage Lottery.
The museum hopes to encourage more people to visit, learn about and enjoy its facilities, natural setting and the wider Great Flat Lode. The grant has been match-funded with £10,000 from Cornwall Council and £2,477 from the Rural Development Programme for England, making a total of £48,177 funding.
The site contains engine houses, an original Holman winding engine, a calciner for cleansing arsenic from tin concentrates, a number of buildings such as the count house, carpenters' shop, winder and compressor houses, and the mill containing a range of working tin-dressing machinery that represents the last of its kind in the world.
The funding will help develop a larger programme of events and activities for families and schools, building on the success of the 24th International Mining Games held at the mine earlier in the year.
Alongside creating more hands-on activities for young people to help them explore the science and technology involved in mining, the project will investigate the flora and fauna of the site and the archaeological remains in the vicinity of the 19th century South Condurrow Stamps Engine House.
Tony Brooks, chairman of King Edward Mine Ltd, said: “This is a real boost for us, as it will enable the museum to move forward in areas that up until now we have been unable to progress.”
King Edward Mine is the oldest complete mine site left in Cornwall and the entire complex of buildings is designated Grade II* Listed.
The whole site is within the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, while the overall complex has Outstanding Universal Value as the best preserved mine head complex within the heritage site for the 1700-1914 period.
For over 100 years the mine was a practical teaching site for the Camborne School of Mines.
Councillor Joan Symons, Cornwall Council portfolio holder for culture, described the mine as “one of the treasures in the council’s portfolio of heritage properties”.
The team of volunteers at King Edward Mine Museum is looking for more people to become involved in the future of the mine.
People are need to help maintain what remains of Cornwall’s industrial heritage, involving all aspects of the museum, site maintenance, landscape management, industrial archaeology, engineering, model making, events programming and marketing, evening guiding and even taking groups around the Great Flat Lode.
For more information call Kingsley Rickard on 01209 716811 or email info@kingedwardmine.co.uk
