05/09/2026
Mining is a hugely important part of Cornwall and Kresen Kernow’s collections relating to Hard Rock mining are Designated as internationally significant. The collection of the Michell Brothers, mining engineers of Redruth, helps underpin this. The collection shows the breadth and depth of the Michell brothers work, which spanned all of Cornwall where mining was concerned. This recent accession of correspondence, papers and drawings sits alongside earlier material deposited in the 1950s and 1970s.
Highlights include correspondence for a new engine at Levant mine in 1829, a property now maintained by the National Trust which sits within the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. Further correspondence with Harvey’s of Hayle, Cornwall’s largest foundry, dated 1843, regarding adaptations to a whim engine originally used at Tresavean mine, the third largest copper mine in Lanner, for use at Wheal Vor, one of Cornwall’s largest tin mines.
The collection also includes multiple technical drawings, including those for an engine at Coosebean mine, near Truro, in 1826, now a protected woodland area.
