Media, Photographs and Videos of Cornish Mining at home and overseas
I have a large personal collection of historic photographs related to Cornish migrants and overseas communities which I will eventually make available here. In addition I have numerous photographs and videos of Cornish heritage features captured during many field visits worldwide. These media, photographs and videos are shared here for your enjoyment, but please note that most of this content is owned by me and may not be used or copied without permission. Unfortunately, due to prior unauthorised use of some of my images in the past, I have had to place a watermark on the images on this website. If you are interested in purchasing or using a copy of an image or video clip, then please contact me for details.
Miners in Migration
Discover the fascinating story of Cornish mining migration, the formation of a vibrant disapora, and the enduring legacy this has created.
The Mining Landscapes of County Wicklow, Ireland
County Wicklow is known as ‘the Garden of Ireland’. But it is also Ireland’s foremost historic mining county. The Cornish involvement in Wicklow reaches back into the eighteenth century, when mineworkers from Great Wheal Busy went to the Cronebane copper mine at Avoca to work under the management of Captain Butler of Redruth. In the nineteenth century, the Williams of Scorrier made a fortune from their Tigroney and Cronebane copper mines at Avoca. These mines were worked by skilled Cornish labour, and captained by a succession of Cornishmen utilising state of the art Cornish steam engine technology.
Throughout the nineteenth century, the lead mines in the Wicklow Mountains at Glendasan, Glendalough and Glenmalure also experienced an influx of skilled Cornish mineworkers and management. Even Ballygoneen in Glenmalure, the remotest of mines, had a Cornish mining captain from Perranuthnoe. These lead mines were thoroughly researched and surveyed by my partner, Martin Critchley, and myself under the aegis of the Interreg Metal Links: Forging Communities Together Project (2007-2013).
Shot in ultra HD video, this short film depicts ground and aerial views of Wicklow’s stunning wealth of surviving mining heritage features. The lead mines in the Wicklow Mountains and the copper and pyrite mines in Avoca still retain a strong Cornish character.
Since we made this film, there has been substantial ‘remedial intervention’ at the Tigroney Mine Site in Avoca. In 2020, footage from this film featured in RTÉ One’s Nationwide programme which showcased a new 19 km walking route called ‘The Miner’s Way’.
Bicentennial of the Cornish in Mexico: part 1
Two hundred years ago, the first group of Cornishmen arrived at the silver mines in Mexico’s Sierra Madre Orientale to begin work for the Real del Monte Mining Company. Their arrival began a remarkable story that has bound the mining nations of Cornwall and Mexico together for two centuries. In this, the first of three films, I draw on a contemporary account to trace the journey made by an intrepid group of fifteen men, nine of them Cornishmen, from Liverpool to the Real del Monte silver mines.