The only colourful thing in a landscape of derelict tin mines were the fields of daffodils.
The remains of the South Wheal Frances Mine. By the end of the 19th century the mine which employed hundreds of workers had produced 68,000 tons of copper ore and 7,000 tons of tin ore, valued in today terms at nine million pounds.
The village of Portreath is situated on the north-west coast of Cornwall about three miles north-west of Redruth. The building of the harbour began in 1760 as an outlet for the mining industry. The small boats sailed regularly out of the narrow harbour entrance loaded with copper ore destined for the smelting furnaces of Swansea. They returned to Portreath with coal to fire the boilers of the steam-powered beam engines clustered around local tin and copper mines. At one stage the village had two railways to transport the vast amounts of ore to the harbour and return with the coal for the mines.
The outer basin (I think) of Portreath Harbour.
Either side of the harbour entrance are two Pilot Lookout huts. The white hut in the middle of the picture has a plaque incribed: Lower Pilots Lookout - The Dead Mans Hut. This building was the lower of two points controlling access into Portreath Harbour via a flag signalling system. The macabre name by which its still known locally derives from its use as a temporary mortuary whenever a body was given up by the sea.
The view out to sea and the other lookout station from the Lower Pilot Lookout.
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