A History Of Wheal Friendship

Once the second largest copper mine in Devon, Wheal Friendship in Mary Tavy on Dartmoor, shaped the village and its surrounding landscape for over two centuries. Discover the history of this significant copper and arsenic mine.

A BRIEF TIMELINE

1719 – Earliest known mine workings in Mary Tavy.

1786 – Henry Hawkins Tremayne and partners are granted a mining lease, but fail to work it effectively. The lease is forfeited in 1790 and new owners are sought.

1791 – The Wheal Friendship Mining Company is established. Under the management of Ralph Allen Daniell and Thomas Hewett, continuous mining operations begin.

1794 – The mine turns its first profit, with around 40 tons of copper ore being extracted each month.

1798 – John Taylor, a young surveyor, oversees construction of the Reddaford Leat to increase the mine’s water supply. This marks the start of his long association with Wheal Friendship.

1823 – Under John Taylor’s management, the mine becomes prosperous, achieving record profits.

1835 – A steam engine is installed, solving the mine’s flooding issues. 

1838 – The Old Sump Wheel, one of the largest water wheels in the country, replaces the steam engine.

1863 – A new lode is discovered and Bennett’s Shaft is sunk, named after the current mine Captain. John Taylor dies at the age of 83 having become one of the most influential figures in British mining history. 

1873 – Wheal Friendship Mining Company Ltd ceases operations due to exhausted ore reserves. Small-scale arsenic mining continues under different owners including Devon Friendship Mining Company and Wheal Jewell Syndicate.

1895  –  Peak production of arsenic in Mary Tavy.

1925 – Wheal Friendship closes.

A HISTORY OF WHEAL FRIENDSHIP

The history of Wheal Friendship from the earliest known mine workings in Mary Tavy to its eventual closure in 1925.

Early Beginnings (1719-1791)

Mining in Mary Tavy began as early as 1719. A letter from the rector of Mary Tavy,  Reverend Henry Pengelly to the lord of the manor of Mary Tavy, Buller’s steward, John Pound in 1719 refers to two mine workings:

One at the Glebe, west of the Cholwell Brook

“we drive upon ye. load & intend to pursue it to ye. very hill, before we sink upon it. We are now cutting an Audit [adit] to carry off ye. grass springs, & hope to get an end, as they call it, yt. is to work in covert [underground] shortly”

and one east of Cholwell Brook

“Ye men are got about five fathom deep, & wd. make greater dispatch were they not somewt. retarded by ye. water wch. ascends pretty plentifully from ye. bottoms, & as much obstructed by ye. hardness of ye. Ground”

It wasn’t until 1791 that the Wheal Friendship Mining Company was established. Under the management of Ralph Allen Daniell and Thomas Hewett, the mine transitioned into a more organised and productive enterprise. By 1794, the mine was producing around 40 tons of copper ore monthly, marking its first profitable phase.

The Era of John Taylor (1798-1863)

In 1798, a young mining engineer named John Taylor became involved with the mine. At just 19 years old, Taylor quickly proved his expertise by tackling the mine’s water supply issues. He constructed the Reddaford Leat, which brought water to the mine for processing and powering equipment..

Taylor’s innovations didn’t stop there. By the 1830s, he introduced a large steam engine to manage the mine’s persistent flooding issues, restoring it to profitability. In 1838, the iconic Old Sump Wheel (reputedly the largest water wheel in the country at the time) was installed under his supervision. Five years later, another, even larger water wheel called Buller’s Wheel was installed. Taylor’s management turned Wheal Friendship into one of the most prosperous copper mines in the region.

The Louis Simonin Drawings

The reason we know what Wheal Friendship looked like during its peak is thanks to the visit of Louis Simonin, a French mining engineer, geologist, and author, in the mid-19th century. Simonin was travelling through Devon to study its mines and the lives of those who worked there. His visit to Wheal Friendship in 1865 resulted in detailed illustrations that captured the layout, machinery, and daily operations of the mine. These drawings, paired with his vivid written accounts, offer an invaluable visual and historical record of the mine’s appearance and operations during its heyday. Without Simonin’s work, much of this knowledge would have been lost to time. You can see all the Simonin drawings in the Gallery.

Community and Growth

The mine was a central part of Mary Tavy’s economy and society. Its success caused the village population to grow from about 191 people in 1781 to around 1500 by the mid-19th century, as workers and their families flocked to the area. The village infrastructure, including roads, cottages, and schools, developed around the mine.

The Workforce

At Wheal Friendship, women and children played an active role in the mine’s operations, particularly in ore processing and surface work. The 1851 census provides a valuable insight into their contribution, revealing that of the 383 mineworkers in Mary Tavy, 125 were children, with 39 of them being girls. Additionally, 26 women were recorded as adult mineworkers. Given that the majority of local mining activity centred on Wheal Friendship, most of these individuals likely worked at the mine.

Bal maidens, as female mine workers were known, were primarily employed on the dressing floors, where they manually sorted and crushed ore. They worked in tough conditions, exposed to mining dust and debris wearing protective hoods to shield their heads and skin while working. The following drawing taken from Louis Simonin’s Tour Du Monde shows two bal maidens at Wheal Friendship, note their protective hoods and the bare feet of one of the women.

Children were also an essential part of the workforce, with boys often engaged in underground roles from as young as 10 years old. Some worked as trammers, pushing heavy carts of ore through the mine’s tunnels, while others assisted miners in various capacities. The demand for child labour was high, as they could squeeze into confined spaces within the mine.

By 1863, an official report recorded that 289 people worked at Wheal Friendship, including 89 boys and 59 girls. Of the boys, 50 were employed underground.

This extract describing work at Brenton’s shaft shows that the boys were expected to work the same hours and at the same depths as the men:

Mining work provided vital income for families in Mary Tavy, where 68% of the population at the time relied on the industry for their livelihood. The mining industry’s reliance on women and children persisted until legal reforms and mechanisation reduced the need for manual ore processing.

Mine work was hard and dangerous. A Commissioners report into the condition of all mines in Great Britain presented to parliament in 1864 contained medical reports on miners throughout Cornwall, Devon, the North of England and Wales which paint a compelling picture of the conditions that the men (and boys) endured.

A miner at Wheal Friendship described it thus:

“I knew it was bad air by its effect. The candle gives a very dull light so that you can hardly touch or look at it without its going out”.

Despite this, Wheal Friendship was considered to offer good conditions to its workforce and had less ill-health than other mines in the area.

The Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act of 1872 was a pivotal piece of legislation aiming to enhance safety and working conditions in non-coal mines, such as those extracting tin, copper, and lead. Prior to this Act, regulations primarily focused on coal mines, leaving metalliferous mines with minimal oversight.
This Act prohibited the employment of boys under the age of 12, or women of any age underground.

28 years later the Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act 1900 prevented boys under the age of 13 from working underground.

Decline and Closure (1873-1925)

After decades of success, the mine’s copper reserves became depleted, and operations ceased in 1873. However, with the increasing value of arsenic, the mine transitioned to small-scale arsenic production, which continued under a series of different owners.

In 1880, the mine was renamed Devon Friendship as new attempts were made to extract remaining ore, particularly from Bennett’s Shaft. Despite these efforts, the mine struggled to remain commercially viable. By the early 20th century, ownership changed again, and in 1912, the mine was taken over by the Wheal Jewell and Mary Tavy Mines Ltd.

Small-scale arsenic mining continued intermittently, but the mine was no longer a major employer. The challenges of depleting resources, rising costs, and competition from overseas meant that mining activities were increasingly sporadic and unprofitable. By 1925, all mining activities at Wheal Friendship had come to an end.

THE SHAFTS

Wheal Friendship’s mining operations were extensive, with numerous shafts sunk to access the valuable copper and arsenic deposits beneath the ground. Many of these shafts were strategically situated throughout the village of Mary Tavy and its surrounding area, reflecting the spread of the mine’s underground workings.

Wheal Friendship had eleven main shafts. These shafts were essential for accessing the underground copper and arsenic deposits and for ventilating the mine.

One of the earliest and most important shafts was the Old Sump Shaft, located near the centre of the mine. This was the heart of the early operations and remained critical throughout the mine’s lifetime.

The Old Sump Shaft was the deepest shaft at Wheal Friendship. It reached a depth of approximately 430 meters (1,400 feet), making it the primary access point for the deeper copper and arsenic ore deposits. This shaft was critical to the mine’s operations and was a major focus of John Taylor’s improvements, including the installation of the large water wheels that helped manage flooding at these significant depths.

Another key shaft, William’s Shaft, was positioned towards the northern end of the mine’s workings and was crucial in accessing deeper copper ore deposits.

Over time, as the mine expanded, additional shafts were sunk, including Engine Shaft and Pearce’s Shaft, both of which played a significant role in the mine’s success. Engine Shaft was located closer to the village and was one of the main access points for workers, while Pearce’s Shaft was situated further out, near the edge of the mine’s boundary.

The Pearce’s Shaft was the last shaft to be mined at Wheal Friendship. As the mine’s resources became depleted and operations scaled down, Pearce’s Shaft was one of the final access points for extracting the remaining ore before the mine eventually ceased operations in 1925. This shaft, located towards the edge of the mine’s boundary, played a crucial role in the later stages of Wheal Friendship’s mining activity.

These shafts impacted the layout and development of the village itself. Workers’ cottages and roads were built around the mine’s operations, integrating the shafts into the daily life of Mary Tavy. Today, while many of the original shafts have been filled or covered, their historical significance remains, with traces of the mining landscape still visible in the area. To discover Mary Tavy’s mining history, take our guided walk.

Copper & Arsenic

Copper became a globally significant metal in the 19th century due to its essential role in steam engines and the rise of electrical power, which greatly increased demand. The Industrial Revolution also led to new applications for copper, including advanced alloys and infrastructure uses such as plumbing and roofing. Initially, Cornwall and Devon dominated global supply, with Wheal Friendship the second largest copper mine in the county. However, as ore reserves dwindled and the cost of dewatering increased, the mine struggled to remain profitable, ultimately failing to compete with the cheaper production from emerging copper mines in the U.S., Chile, and Australia.

By the late 19th century, Wheal Friendship shifted from copper to arsenic mining, driven by declining copper profits and rising arsenic demand. Used in pesticides, glassmaking, textiles, and wood preservation, arsenic became a lucrative commodity. At Wheal Friendship, ore was roasted in calciners, releasing a toxic vapour that condensed into a fine white powder. Highly toxic, arsenic left a lasting impact, with mine waste dumps contaminating parts of Mary Tavy as arsenic leached into the soil. Before the village playing field’s community allotments were established, the soil had to be tested to ensure it was safe for growing food. The arsenic calciners are still visible today, and visitors can explore their history by following our guided walk.

Wheal Betsy

Wheal Betsy, located just outside Mary Tavy, formed part of the Wheal Friendship Mining Company from 1806 to 1837, the mine focused primarily on silver and lead but also produced copper.

The remains of the Wheal Betsy engine house, built in 1868 is now owned and maintained by the National Trust. Find out more and visit here.