Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> The Levant Mine with its surface workings on the cliff-top near St. Just in Cornwall ceased operating in 1930. Over the years it had been a very successful mine but it had become unprofitable. The winding engine or whim had still survived by 1935 whilst all round it was a scene of destruction when whatever could be salvaged was sent for scrap to raise money: but by then it too was destined to be broken-up and taken away for scrap. A group of people had become concerned at that time that soon there could be no Cornish Beam Engines left in Cornwall as mine after mine closed and engines went for scrap. A “Cornish Engines Preservation Committee” was set- up and funds raised over several years for purchasing a selection of engines to save them from destruction. The Levant whim in 1935 was the first engine bought and it was put into a state of preservation essentially by lagging with grease. The Committee which changed in 1944 into the “Cornish Engines Preservation Society” acquired Trevithick’s Cottage and four Cornish beam engines. All of these were in 1967 transferred to the National Trust which was more able to care for them. In 1969 the “Cornish Engines Preservation Society” combined with the “Cornish Water-wheel Preservation Society” to form the Trevithick Society with a wide interest in industrial archaeology associated with Cornwall. In a book reprinted by the Trevithick Society (Reference 1) and first published by the Cornish Engines Preservation Committee in 1943 and reissued later by the Cornish Engines Preservation Society in 1950 and 1953 the Levant whim is listed as a 24 inch rotative beam winding engine being the oldest surviving engine in Cornwall and having been designed by Francis Michell and built in 1840 by Harvey and Co of Hayle. A general review of some of the work of the Michell family is given in Reference 2. The story of the Levant Mine over its working and restorative periods is given in John Corin’s book Reference 3. (LL)