MIGRATION OF CORNISH TIN MINERS

Cornish miners also travelled a short distance to Somerset. The Burrow Farm Mine was established in the 1860s, principally mining iron ore. In 1868 a Cornish Beam engine was installed to keep the workings free from water, but the mine closed a year later. Cornish mineworkers were also employed in the Quantock copper mines from the late eighteenth century.

The area around the village of Roose, Barrow-in-Furness. best represents Cornish mining migration. Hundreds of Cornish mineworkers chose to settle there after 1873.

It was the establishment of the Stank Mines in 1871 that resulted in the construction of company housing for the workforce; 196 terraced cottages were built, the majority of which were occupied by the Cornish. The settlement also had its own school, and a church known as St Perran’s with its own Sunday school.

Within the iron mining districts of Cumberland and Lancashire, there were more than 3,500 Cornish-born miners and their families living in neighbouring parishes as shown in the 1881 census, including Barrow-in-Furness, Millom, Egremont and Cleator.

While the migrating Cornish families benefitted from the employment provided by the iron mines, this was not consistent or long-lasting. A decline in iron production during the late 1870s prompted many of the original migrants to leave the area for new mining settlements around Arizona in North America which was already an established Cornish enclave. However, the iron mines around Barrow remined major employers until the early twentieth century.

Some of the Cornish people who remained in the area gained employment within the nearby Vickers naval construction works where their experience of using compressed air rock drills as mineworkers was easily adapted to the skill of air riveters. Thus, they became known as ‘windyjacks’

Mineworkers from Cornwall are evident in the Pennines from the early nineteenth century; Cornish miners in their hundreds had migrated to the Northumberland and County Durham coal fields by the 1850s. Their distinctive Cornish accents and surnames are visible in the censuses. 

the northern collieries  were experiencing industrial unrest during the late 1860s because their existing workforce was becoming more militant in their campaign for better pay working conditions. The employers eventually sacked the strikers and replaced them with unemployed Cornishmen.

Many Cornish miners moved to the north of England, specifically, to the Cramlington collieries in Northumberland. In 1865, around 450 Cornish miners with their families arrived, and the striking workforce were evicted from their homes to make way for the Cornish people.

There were extensive lead, copper and silver deposits across the Bristol Channel in Wales and thousands of Cornish miners were employed in the many metal mines of Wales.

One of the more prominent mines was Llywernog, owned by the Williams family of Gwennap which was in existence from 1825. This association between the mining districts of Cardiganshire and Cornwall continued into the early twentieth century. The migration of the Cornish miners meant they took with them their culture and beliefs, particularly their methodist beliefs which resulted in the building of Methodist chapels in many village settlements.

It was not just the miners that moved to Wales - their Cornish engineering also appeared. A pumping engine, designed by Holman Brothers of Camborne in Cornwall was installed at the Dorothea mine in 1906; the aim was to pump the water out of a deep slate quarry.

The lead and zinc mines at Pontrhydygroes date from the late 1750s, and again were leased by the Williams family in the 1820s, later to be leased to John Taylor & Son and managed by the Francis family of Cornwall.

Silver lead was first mined in the 1740s at Llywernog, but it was not until the 1790s that two adits were driven into the hillside to aid drainage and access. In 1824 the Williams family of Cornwall took over the mine lease and Cornish mineworkers were recruited to provide most of the labour. It was at this point that Cornish surnames became commonplace in the area and more Methodist chapels were built.

In the last decades of the eighteenth century, the opencast reserves of copper ore on Anglesey were extremely productive at the Parys and Mona mines.

In 1811 the Mona mine was reformed by Cornish-born John Vivian using Cornish methods of deep shaft mining. James Treweek of Gwennap managed the mine and over the next half century, his influence resulted in copper smelting on site, and the nearby port of Amlwch, protected the shipping interests of Mona. These two areas are testament of the Cornish influence on Anglesey.  

Mining for silver-lead at Minera had existed from the late 1200s but the Cornish were not involved until 1745.  When the Cornishmen arrived, their Cornish mining technology was employed extensively at Minera in the nineteenth century. 

The famous Laxey Wheel was installed at the Great Laxey Lead and Zinc Mine in 1854. The wheel is the largest surviving working waterwheel and was installed to pump water from the deepening mine workings. 

The work was overseen by Richard Rowe, formerly of St Agnes, Cornwall who also constructed ‘Rowe’s Pier’ at Laxey. The Great Laxey Lead and Zinc Mine was a major producer of these two metals.

Silver lead mining existed in the Foxdale area in the early eighteenth century, but Cornish involvement did not occur until a century later.

There are several Cornish engine houses in the area, an indication of the significant Cornish presence. Many traditional Cornish surnames also exist in the area.

Cornish mine workers migrated to Cork in the early 1800s to mine copper. The Allihies Copper Mine Museum was a Baptist Chapel, patronised by Cornish settlers in the area in a predominantly Roman Catholic area.

The discovery of diamonds in South Africa in the late 1860s and the Transvaal gold rush a decade later created opportunities for significant migration from Cornwall in the three decades following the 1880s.

During the 1800s, South Africa was the hub of the world’s greatest diamond rush centred around Kimberley. Hard rock mining was needed to extract diamonds, so Cornish miners flooded into the area in the hope of making a fortune. Kimberly was home to diamond quarries worked by 2,500 miners thus South Africa’s mining industry prospered.

In the mid/late 1890s, a quarter of the white workforce in South Africa were Cornish and it was thought that around £1 million was being sent back to Cornwall every year. This caused friction between the Cornish and the Kruger government who imposed a tax on the Cornish immigrants which contributed to the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899. . Many Cornish settlers returned home at that point.

In the mid-nineteenth century, many Cornish migrants settled in the developing mining regions of Australia. By the mid-1860s just under half the immigrants to South Australia were Cornish. This had a great impact on Australia’s mining industry as well as the culture.

South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula became known as “Little Cornwall” and prompted a rush for mining leases with mines established in Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo triangle. By 1875, Moonta’s copper production exceeded that of Cornwall.

South Australia owes its global status as a copper producing region to Cornwall’s mining expertise. As had happened elsewhere, the Cornish mine workers brought with them the culture and customs of Cornwall. Rugby union was popularised there due to the Cornish miner’s passion for the game. In 1908, a national side from Australia visited and played in Cornwall.

During the nineteenth century mining boom, many Cornish settled in various North American mining regions, including the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Montana, South Dakota, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and California; and this affected the fortunes of Cornwall mines.

As mining became prevalent in North America, and to some extent Australia, Cornish men and women began to migrate there in search of a better wages and prospects. They were working lead deposits in Wisconsin and Illinois in the 1830s, copper in Michigan in the 1840s and later joined the California gold rush.

One place which saw a huge influx of Cornish miners was the Empire mine in Grass Valley. By 1894, sixty per cent of the population of Grass Valley was from Cornwall. Today Grass Valley is twinned with Bodmin. In the 1830s lead mining in Wisconsin was beginning to attract Cornish miners and their families. By 1845, roughly half of Mineral Point’s population was Cornish.  Today Mineral Point is twinned with Redruth.

South America also looked to Cornwall to provide the technology and labour expertise to help regenerate its once thriving gold and silver mines which now lay derelict.

By the 1830s, Cornish miners were already being recruited to work the mines. It was the Cornish who made up most of the British immigrants that settled in Brazil.

Cornish labour was recruited on either three- or five-year contracts which inevitably resulted in a high turnover of men; the miners travelled back and forth between South America and Britain.

The largest mine in the area, Gonco Soco, became well-known to the mining communities back in Cornwall, particularly around Gwennap and Redruth.