Heartlands and the Wind.

This shot is taken from one of the Diaspora Botanical Gardens. Quoting the title of an Iron Maiden track- " When the Wild Wind Blows" seems an apt way to describe the day we went here, 5/5/2015 and yes it did blow a bit. The engine house seen here is Robinson's Shaft and it held a 80" engine. This engine was designed by Captain Samuel Grose ( a pupil of Richard Trevithick) and built by Sandys Vivian and Co. at Copperhouse Foundry in Hayle ( the other famous engine builders in Hayle being Harvey's of Hayle ). The engine was set to work at Wheal Alfred in 1855 until 1864, it was then moved to Wheal Abraham working fron 1865 until 1875. After a period of not working it was moved again to Tregurtha Downs where it worked off and on from 1883 until 1902. Once again it was moved one last time to this present site and worked from 1903 until 1:15 pm on the 1st. of May 1955 when it finally came to rest and it was the last ever working steam driven beam engine to work a Cornish Mine. One must remember Pickfords was not around in those days and each move involved extraction from the granite building housing around it and the construction of a new one at it's new place of work- no mean feat in anybodies book!!! Check out further shots at Heartlands to see the engine in it's last home, the building is preserved but alas the cylinder head has a massive crack across it and with all of today's techno it is unlikely to be possible to mend or even replace the head and so will remain static. Has the wind died down yet?

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