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Summary

Liskeard Consols was worked between 1841 and 1844. All that remains of the site is a depression at the location of a shaft, and a cottage that is likely to have been either the smith's shop or possibly the 'dry' or changing house for the mine.

Protected Status: None recorded

Other Statuses/Codes: none recorded

Monument Type(s):

• BLACKSMITHS WORKSHOP (19th Century - 1841 AD to 1844 AD)
• MINE (19th Century - 1841 AD to 1844 AD)
• MINERS CHANGING HOUSE? (19th Century - 1841 AD to 1844 AD)

Full description

Liskeard Consols was worked between 1841 and 1844. All that remains of the site is a depression at the location of a shaft, and a cottage that is likely to have been either the smith's shop or possibly the 'dry' or changing house for the mine. The building (now Swallow Cottage) was converted to a cottage in 1848 by the architect Henry Rice (Chris Boughton, pers comm.).
The mine constituted the most southerly trial of what maybe termed the Caradon area, and was started towards the end of 1841 "on the recommendation of an intelligent agent of the neighbourhood". Work continued until 1844, when the mine was abandoned and the steam engine, together with a horse whim and other materials, were advertised in the 'Mining Journal' (1). The mine is considered likely to have been worked for copper. However, Jenkin quotes a description of the North Lode as composed of "a vast body of mundic" (1).

Recent discussion between Colin Buck of the HES and Chris Boughton of Swallow Cottage has shed further light, or possibly doubt, on the exact location of the mine. While Brenton Symons in 1863 (3) appears to mark the Consols at Treworgy Farm, an 1842 map of the proposed Liskeard and Caradon Railway (4) marks the Consols in the same location as Hamilton Jenkin describes: a field immediately south of Swallow Cottage. Details of the e-mail correspondence between Colin and Chris are in the HE Info file (2).

<1> Jenkin, AKH, 1961-70, Mines and Miners of Cornwall, Volume 12, 38-39 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3635.

<2> Cornwall Council, 1975-present, Historic Environment Record Information File, SX26NW, Liskeard Consols (Unpublished document). SCO24104.

<3> SYMONS, 1863, MAP OF CARADON AND LUDCOTT MINING DISTRICTS (Cartographic materials). SCO6169.

<4> Messenger, MJ, 1978, Caradon and Looe: the Canal, Railways and Mines, 26 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3934.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

Related records: none recorded

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