West Tolgus is a village in the Tolgus Valley in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It lies just off the A30 road

A30 road

The 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...

 south of Illogan

Illogan

Illogan is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated two miles northwest of Redruth.Originally a rural area supporting itself by farming and agriculture, Illogan shared in the general leap into prosperity brought about by the mining boom, which was experienced by the...

, and northeast of Camborne

Camborne

Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is at the western edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool and Redruth....

 and northwest of Redruth

Redruth

Redruth is a town and civil parish traditionally in the Penwith Hundred in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a population of 12,352. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road , and is approximately west of...

.

Mining

The village was a notable mining area and was mined from the early 1720's. Wheal Raven Mine produced over 700 tons of copper ore in the 1760's and a little zinc ore, but hardly any tin. In fell into difficulty and had to close, facing stiff competition from other more successful mines in the area. Attempts were made in 1793 and in 1805 to reopen it and between 1810 and 1810 it reopened as Wheal Royal but was abandoned once again until the mining boom of 1824 when it reverted to its former name of Wheal Raven. It produced over 1500 tons of copper ore of a moderate grade in the period that followed but was closed and reopened again between 1831 and 1836 in which it produced over 500 tons of copper ore.

In 1844, a new company purchased the mine and renamed it West Tolgus and Treloweth, and just West Tolgus from 1850. It closed in 1851 and again reopened in 1860 after being bought by John Taylor and Sons. Managed by Captain Joseph Jewell, they built an engine house with a 60 inch (later 65 then 70) pumping engine and a 10 foot stroke, enabling mining to reach a depth of 312 feet or 52 fathoms by April 1862. It employed over 120 people at the time and by 1879 over 230. During the 1870s a series of accidents caused the mine to flood, including flooding in 1873 when it closed by five months and flooding again in January 1879 when the balance bob broke in two places in Richards' Shaft. After the accidents and the fact the mine was not especially economically viable it ceased operations for the final time in February 1884.