11.05.07
Royal seal of approval for Cornwall and West Devon Mining
Landscape World Heritage Site
The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage
Site received a Royal seal of approval this week when His
Royal Highness the Duke of Cornwall officially marked the
designation of the WHS with a visit to Holmbush Mine at Kelly
Bray and a special inscription ceremony at Cotehele.
The Mining World Heritage Site, which comprises 10 distinct
areas stretching from Botallack in the west to Tavistock in
the east achieved inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List
in July last year. It represents the best surviving examples
of the former mining districts, ancillary industries and associated
settlements formed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
when the area was at the forefront of the scientific and technological
innovations which drove the Industrial Revolution.
The bid for World Heritage Site status began in 1999 and
involved financial investment from all the local authorities
in Cornwall and West Devon, English Heritage, the National
Trust, the Cornwall and Tamar Valley Areas of Outstanding
Natural Beauty and Objective One. In 2001 a World Heritage
Site team, hosted by Cornwall County Council's Historic Environment
Service, began work on researching and drafting the Nomination
Document and Management Plan for the Cornwall and West Devon
Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, which was finally submitted
by the UK Government in January 2005.
His Royal Highness, accompanied by Cornwall's Lord Lieutenant
Lady Mary Holborow, began his visit to Cornwall with a tour
of Holmbush Mine where they were greeted by Sir Nicholas Bacon,
Lord Warden of the Stannaries, Nicholas Johnson, Cornwall
County Council's Historic Environment Manager and Chris Hariades,
Project Manager for the East Cornwall Regeneration Project.
A good example of a typical mine in the World Heritage Site,
the copper mine employed 295 people in 1885, and also produced
quantities of lead, silver, arsenic, mispickel, wolfram and
fluorospar from a maximum depth of 1,050 feet . Unusually,
however, the mine did not produce tin.
His Royal Highness was shown Hichen's Pumping Engine House,
which was consolidated and made accessible in 2000 as part
of the European Objective 5b funded Tamar Valley Regeneration
Project carried out in partnership with the Duchy of Cornwall.
He was then given details of the proposed East Cornwall Regeneration
Project to consolidate and make accessible the nearby Hichen's
Winding Engine House, boiler house, detached chimney and associated
waterwheel and crank pits. The entire site is a Scheduled
Monument, with both the winding engine house and detached
chimney Grade II Listed Buildings, and the aim of the project
is to conserve the area and improve public access to the new
World Heritage Site. The project is a good example of the
public and private sectors working together to improve safety
and public access to an important historic mining site which
had previously suffered from problems of difficult access,
dereliction, dangerous structures and fly tipping.
His Royal Highness then travelled to Cotehele House where
he was welcomed by the Vice Lord Lieutenant Michael Galsworthy
CVO CBE, Hon Evelyn Boscawen, the High Sheriff of Cornwall,
Doris Ansari, OBE, Chair of Cornwall County Council, Sheila
Healy, Clerk to the Lieutenancy and Chief Executive of Cornwall
County Council, Chief Constable Stephen Otter, Jane Moore,
Chairman of Calstock Parish Council and Mrs J Massey, Clerk
to Calstock Parish Council. Also present was Cadet Petty Officer
Alexander Lamb, a Lord Lieutenant's Cadet.
The Duke of Cornwall was met by Clare Broom, Regional Chairman
of the National Trust, Mark Harold, Regional Director of the
National Trust, Toby Fox, Cotehele Property Manager before
being introduced to County Councillor Adam Paynter, Chairman
of the World Heritage Site Partnership, Dr Mechtild Rosser,
UNESCO Director of Operations, Europe and North America and
Deborah Boden, World Heritage Site Co-ordinator for Cornwall
County Council.
Congratulating everyone on their hard work in achieving World
Heritage Site status, The Duke of Cornwall said: 2Today
allows us to celebrate both the people who made this landscape
and the people who have restored it."
Adam Paynter, who hosted the inscription ceremony, said this
had been a very special day for everyone involved with the
World Heritage Site Partnership. 2We have been reminded
again today that for nearly one hundred years this small area
of Britain dominated the hard-rock mining world. Cornish mining
and Cornish miners, Cornish engines and Cornish engineers
came to represent everything that was dynamic and innovative
in the early days of the Industrial Revolution."
2World Heritage status for this amazing landscape legacy
offers many benefits as well as responsibilities for us all.
Heritage is an important catalyst in economic regeneration.
The beneficial re-use of redundant industrial buildings brings
new life to urban areas. Large scale conservation projects
have opened up new areas for recreation and cultural tourism
from St Just at Lands End to the Tamar Valley in the east.
2We are delighted that His Royal Highness has had a chance
to visit one such project at Holmbush Mine. It is great news
that since Inscription last year seventeen mining related
heritage attractions in Cornwall and Devon have come together
as a new partnership under the World Heritage Site banner
to improve quality standards and to pioneer new, collaborative
marketing opportunities. It is these sorts of initiatives
that help to improve the quality of life in our County.
2Cornwall County Council is pleased to continue to play
a leading and very active role in helping to look after and
promote the World Heritage Site."
Following the presentation of the inscription certificate
by Dr Rosser, His Royal Highness was presented with a picture
of the Prince of Wales engine house on Phoenix Mine at Minions
and Dr Rosser was presented with a paperweight made of Cornish
tin as tokens of respect and thanks and reminders of their
visit to the World Heritage Site.
Cllr Ken Williams, Mayor of West Devon, said: "We
have had such huge support from the Duchy of Cornwall throughout
the bid and subsequent awarding of World Heritage Status to
Cornwall and West Devon which has been much appreciated.
2West Devon Borough Council is now leading the project
development alongside the Tamar Valley AONB Service of the
£5.5 million Tamar Valley Mining Heritage Project which
forms part of the World Heritage Site in West Devon and will
bring huge financial benefits to the area."
Councillor Humphrey Temperley, Devon County Council Executive
Member for Economic Regeneration, Strategic Planning and Regional
Affairs, said: 2World Heritage Site status for the Cornwall
and West Devon Mining Landscape opens up huge opportunities
for tourism. Morwhellham Quay and the Tamar Valley could attract
visitors from round the world, particularly from descendants
of the expert Devon and Cornish miners who migrated to the
USA, Canada, Australia and Africa.
2Devon County Council and West Devon Borough Council
have just completed a cash investment for Morwhellham Quay
which will allow the site to play its full part in what should
be a bright future for that corner of Devon and Cornwall."
Carleen Kelemen, Director of the Objective One Partnership
said: 2This day marked a new era in Cornwall's mining
history. The recognition of a legacy that grew out of this
unique, industrial archaeology which characterises the Cornish
landscape today.
2The Objective One Programme has invested in the enhancement
and protection of these features and at the same time maximised
these distinctive assets to create new workspace and regeneration
of the surrounding historic mining areas. In moving forward
to a knowledge economy, Cornwall's mining legacy and investment
from Objective One will stimulate research and innovation
such as creating new energy systems or in leading the way
in the development of wave and tidal power.
2Many years of hard work by dedicated people across Cornwall,
and in particular Nick Johnson and his team at Cornwall County
Council, have now been rewarded with the official World Heritage
Site inscription ceremony. I join those who offer their warmest
congratulations and look forward to a bold future rooted in
a renewed sense of ambition and achievement."
For further information please contact Trisha Hewitt, Communications
Officer, Cornwall County Council, on 01872 274098 / 01872
322186 or email phewitt@cornwall.gov.uk.
The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the
Isles of Scilly has invested in the World Heritage Site projects
through the European Regional Development fund (ERDF).
Editor's notes:
Clare Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Mobile: 07973 813647
Telephone: 01872 223439
cmorgan@cornwall.gov.uk
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