SUPPLEMENT ROGER COLLICOTT CATALOGUE 99

UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN ( 1828 )

The highlight of this 1828 tour is the author’s visit to the mine, a hazardous and exciting – not to say, terrifying – subterranean excursion. His extensive journey over Cornwall from Land’s End to the border of Devon is sufficiently indicated by the summary of the contents list included here. As a lover of the picturesque he expatiates over many famous Cornish houses, ruins and gardens, and the ladies of Cornwall ! He gets into conversation with locals and is full of opinions. Something of the flavour of the narrative is provided by a number of selected extracts. All in all, a lively and entertaining account of Cornwall and the Cornish nearly 200 years ago.

The journal is also enlivened by many contemporary engraved plates laid-in, and a few fascinating hand-drawn or coloured illustrations, including a rare depiction of miners working underground by candle light.

CONTENTS i – ii

Cap 1 Visit to 1 – 34

Cap 2 Mines and the Art of Mining 35 – 54

Cap 3 The Art of Mining & .... extracting & preparing Ores as at present practised 57 – 76

Cap 4 Excursion ... from Botallack Mine to the Land’s End, the Loggan Rock and back to ( includes remarks on the Scillies, arrival at Sennen, walk to Land’s End with descriptive view of the Longships Lighthouse, First and Last Inn at Sennen, ’s ) 77 -98

Cap 5 Penzance and environs, Spanish invasion, Sir H. Davy, the fishermen of Penzance, Royal Geological Society of Penzance, Falmouth, view of St Ives, pilchard fishery in St Ives bay 99 – 122

Cap 6 Falmouth and environs 123 – 147

Cap 7 From Plymouth through Devonport and environs 148 – 162

Cap 8 Up the Tamar, Cotehele House, Weir Head, , Meditonham [?] Creek, Landulph, Pentillie Castle, Chapel on the Rock, Calstock, comparison between Tamar and Dart, return to London 163 – 189.

THE AUTHOR

The author of this journal was born in the reign of George 111, probably about 1800. He was an educated man with classical attainments, but his scientific knowledge appears limited. He shows a considerable interest in the picturesque. He appears to have been named T. Reseigh, his surname suggesting a Cornish background, for the unusual name is commonly found in West Cornwall. He lived in London, had good social connections and some wealth, travelling extensively in 1826 and again in 1828, and abroad to Trieste and its neighbourhood in 1847.

He wrote up his travels in at least three journals, of which series this is the second. He was certainly still making small footnote additions well into the 1850s.

189 pages in a neat clear legible hand on Whatman watermarked paper, supplemented with many engraved plates. Oblong folio. Half calf, marbled boards. The significance of this unpublished description of Botallack mine cannot be overstated.

PRICE £5500

BOTALLACK MINE

The Botallack is a mine, or rather a group of mines in west Cornwall; it is in the former tin mining area situated between the town of St Just in and the village of . It consists of the mines Wheal Cock, Crowns, and , as well as Parknoweth.

Crowns Mine tin mine is situated low down the cliffs north of Botallack. There are two engine houses, and the mine extends for about 400 metres out under the Atlantic Ocean; the deepest shaft is 250 fathoms below sea level.

There are two arsenic works opposite the Botallack Count House. At the top of the cliffs there are the remains of one of the mine’s arsenic refining works.

In about 1815 a shaft was sunk from the Crowns Rocks and a pumping engine installed to de-water this section of the mine. The miners continued to work the shallow deposits for tin and copper until the late 1820's. Ore reserves were becoming harder to locate within the sett's land boundaries. The mine struggled to survive with the low price of tin and was offered up for sale in 1835.

One year later it was purchased by Steven Harvey James; however the future continued to look bleak as the new owner struggled to find new ore deposits. In 1842 a rich copper lode was discovered and the fortunes of the mine began to look up again, as the mine began to expand its workings.

Production was at its highest through the 1860’s, but in 1875 tin prices fell dramatically – due mainly to the discovery of alluvial tin in Australia. Like many mines in Cornwall, Botallack struggled to survive as tin price continued to be depressed.

A series of floods in the 1890s finally put paid to any future for Botallack Mine. Although a new lease was granted in about 1906, work finally ceased in 1914.

The whole area is now under the protection of the National Trust.

BOTALLACK MINE UNDERGROUND VISIT

‘ Uncouth but kindly ‘ or life underground 188 years ago

Dressed in a blue jacket and white trousers, a Londoner newly lodged in the inn at St Just set out on foot with a companion [Tresider] one Saturday in 1828 to explore the famous mine near Land’s End, Botallack.

On arrival at this cliff site, he made a cursory inspection above ground, observing the Crowns Engine, a steam engine that had to be lowered 200 ft when work first began. This was used to extract water out of the mine. There was a separate apparatus for raising the ore named the Steam Whim. But the visitor announced, to much surprise, his real intention : to go down the mine. He was taken into the Count House and met the mining captain, Mr Grenfell. A change of clothes was insisted upon, and he was placed in materials of heavy fabric, though the trousers were too small, and the ancient shoes had his toes poking out.

When he arrived at the head of the shaft, he was given a candle and began the hazardous perpendicular descent down a wooden ladder. He found himself groping in almost total darkness, water oozing from the cliff that poured into the shaft, falling on the heads of all in streams and naturally drenching them. The ladders were narrow, slight and slippery, often bending outwards so that one was hanging off them, risking a fall of 40 – 70 ft and certain death.

He was soon out of breath but given encouragement by the accompanying miners. And so he arrived at the entrance to the first gallery, sinking up to his knees in muddy water. He was warned to stoop but still managed to bang his head twice.

He began to crawl on hands and knees. Sometimes the ladders stopped 4 or 5 ft from ground level, so that he had to crawl ‘ like a sweep boy down a narrow chimney.’ He descended along a series of ladders, crawling and groping through many passages, cross-cuts and galleries till arriving nearly 400 ft down ‘ in the bosom of the solid rock.’ Here total exhaustion leads him to recommend to fellow-explorers that they take a supply of brandy with them. He confesses that, throughout, the miners were as lively and cheerful ‘ as eels in mud.’ They try to help him by placing his feet on the ladder rungs, and, when the ladders come to an end, offering their shoulders and showing him resting-places. He regards them as uncouth but kindly, and says the miners and Cornish lower classes have much improved in recent years.

But he cannot understand their instructions couched in an incomprehensible dialect, and begs to be left to make his own way down. Thereafter he becomes quite nimble and wins the miners’ respect.

Pointing out the course of the lode or vein and its direction through the rock, they tell him he is now underwater [the sea]. He decides not to go to the very lowest point where he would have water up to his waist.

He watches the miners break off pieces from the copper lode which is most abundant deep down. He collects some specimens himself, describing the tools of the miners. The absence of miners at work is explained by its being a Saturday when they finish early : in a gallery no more than 6 work at a time.

Excavation is very slow, gunpowder is used and accidents are common. The work is very expensive.

He finds ascending harder than the descent. He is shown an air-vent that puts him parallel to the base of the cliffs. Though agile, he is hampered by the tightness of his very short trousers. Bathed in perspiration, and drenched with mud and water, he feels as if dragged through a London sewer (of which he has some experience). His companion cuts his foot on the sharp stones, but he has managed to borrow some nearly new shoes and saves himself. He marvels at the miners’ barefootedness.

Near the mouth of the shaft as he comes out he sees women and girls washing the ore and preparing it for sampling. He is struck by their attractiveness, especially their large, dark eyes. The respect that his elegant attire earned him on arrival has turned to laughter when they see him.

He arrives at the Count House where Mr Grenfell chooses ore samples for him in a competitive tourist market he does not understand. In return he invites Grenfell to dine with him at his inn. He has been down the mine about three and a half hours, the most violent and exhausting exercise he has ever had. He could not recommend his adventure to anyone, however singular and unexpected he has found it.

It is difficult to believe that any other early account better portrays so extensively the hazardous nature of working down a mine. In his slow and detailed rendering, the author – candle in one hand, groping downward in the dark under a drenching on his buckling, slippery ladder or banging his head as he crawls through a watery gallery on hands and knees – vividly conveys something of the sheer unpleasantness of this very harsh occupation.

SELECT PASSAGES

THE MINERS

Though these men in appearance, were some of the most uncultivated and uncouth looking beings that could be met with, and that I had hitherto seen, yet they displayed an attention and readiness to explain everything to us, and also in fact, to take care of us during our descent, that was very pleasing, and evinced a natural good feeling on their part as well as a disposition to oblige us; which, emanating from beings so peculiar in their habits and manners, and so apparently uncivilised, - was not naturally to have been expected from such persons. But the lower classes in Cornwall, and particularly its mining population, are of late years, very much improved in point of character; the reproach of Cornwall being the barbarian coast of England, is gradually wearing away, and its inhabitants of the classes above alluded to, find the advantage of that truly just observation, “that it is better to outlive scandal, than to outpreach it.”

FISHER WOMEN OF PENZANCE

In the opinion of some, the fishwomen of Penzance, are considered as a caste possessing several peculiarities, and boasting of considerable personal attractions. They are described with much warmth of expression, as possessing generally, fine symmetry of form, - delicacy of complexion; - curling ringlets and jet black eyes, sparkling beneath the shade of large gypsy hats of beaver, their toute ensemble filling the stranger with – admiration ! ... and offering a most striking contrast to the female divinities who preside over the piscatory rights and ceremonies at Billingsgate.

These nymphs carry their fish in a peculiar kind of basket termed a cowel, slung at their backs, and supported by a string passing round their hats; and the term is said to have been derived from its resemblance to a monk’s cowl. In shape, the hats in which these dignities shroud their charming countenances, resemble that of the clamorous milkmaid in Hogarth’s picture of the distressed poet, and this shape seems peculiar to the market women in Cornwall.

THE ROYAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CORNWALL

The building originally occupied by the Society being found too small for its collections, a capacious suite of rooms were erected in the year 1817, to which is now attached a public library, and an apartment for the reception of newspapers.

There is also what is termed an economical department, containing specimens in illustration of the various changes which the ores of tin, copper, etc, undergo, in the process of dressing and smelting, with models of the machinery employed in such operations.

A laboratory containing the necessary apparatus for analytical research is also attached to the establishment ... a considerable addition has been made to the museum by the erection of a new cabinet, and the metallic and earthy minerals are now completely arranged. The cabinet that was removed for its reception, has been placed in the apartment lately occupied by the Penzance Library, and a portion of it already appropriated to Cornish geology, consisting of rock specimens, illustrative of the geology of the several districts.

HEVER HEVER !

On no part of the Cornish coast is the pilchard fishery ... carried on with greater activity or success [ than St Ives] ; and at the time of large draughts, it is usual for all the inhabitants to contribute their assistance; shops and dwelling houses are frequently deserted on such occasions, and even the church itself has been abandoned, when large shoals have made their appearance ! Upon a certain signal being given by a person stationed on the heights, the approach of a shoal is generally announced to the town, and the effect is most singular. Trumpets are immediately heard, and the inhabitants rushing from their houses, and quitting their ordinary occupations, are to be seen running in all directions, and vociferating the word “ Hever, - Hever. “ What the term signifies, or whence it was derived, is quite an enigma *; but it would appear that its sound is no less animating to the ears of a St Ives man than is the cry of, “ to arms”, to a son of Mars; and the tumult that it excites is more like that of a besieged city, than the peaceable cheerful bustle of an industrious fishing town.

*Supposed to be derived from the old Cornish word, “ hava “, found.

FALMOUTH FISH MARKET

The fish market, which is said to afford a greater variety than any other in the kingdom, and in which in a town like this, one might suppose would be a principal feature, is however, situated in the narrowest part of the town, opposite Pearce’s Hotel, and in the main street. This absurd arrangement, together with the filthy and uncleanly manner in which the fish are exposed and prepared for sale, ( not indeed, by such Iberian Venuses as are to met with at Penzance ) render this place a disgusting public nuisance.

FALMOUTH

The society of this town may be described as consisting of shopkeepers and petty traders, Jews, Quakers, sailors, Packet Masters, fishwomen and the motley amphibious tribe which abound in a seaport town : - very few gentry or nobility reside in this neighbourhood. Trade and navigation being the only things practised here, as a matter of course in the manners and habits of such a place, much elegance or refinement cannot be found.

THE NAVY IN PLYMOUTH HARBOUR

In this bay, from the Dockyard point, as far as Saltash, the ships of war not required for active service are laid up in ordinary, moored to strong chains which stretch across the harbour. These magnificent floating castles, of various classes, are stripped of their yards, top masts and rigging, yet owing to their immense bulk, they present an imposing appearance; but from their uniformity, they are by no means elegant or picturesque objects, particularly contrasted with the general scenery of this spot. They are almost all painted yellow, and covered with wooden roofing, in order to protect them from the effects of the weather.