Around where I live in West Cornwall used to be a very industrial landscape. What is now an area of outstanding natural beauty used to be full of mining buildings. Lots of them and lots of people living here employed by the mines. Geevor Tin Mine near Pendeen was one of the last mines to close in 1989. Geevor Tin Mine Museum can now be visited to see how the mine used to work. You can go underground in an older mine and see how the modern mine and mill extracted the tin. Some of the people working there now did work there when it was a mine.
As Redruth’s Casio Rappers ‘Hedluv and Passman‘ put in their song ‘Dreckly‘:
we’re like miners mining
you’ve gotta put the time in
dig it out the grime
and it come up shining
ain’t no diamonds
this town was built on tin
‘cause you gotta have something
to put your baked beans in
There is also a great café (with possibly one of the best views ever) and the shop sells West Cornwall and mining related stuff. They are also encouraging local crafts people by showcasing and selling their work. And amazingly they have recently agreed to sell my soap. How good is that. Keeping it clean in Pendeen.
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