During the recent discusion of museums with an underground "experience"
(horrible word)brief metion was made of the recently opened trip at South
Crofty. Bob Waterhouse and I visted recently and were very impressed by
the trip.
The tour starts at New Cook's Kitchen Shaft and winder. Vistors are then
driven to the Tuckingmill Decline where the underground tour starts. The
decline is followed for about 200 yards before entering the parallel stopes
of North Tincroft Lode (part of Cook's Kitchen). This lode appears to have
been first worked in the late 1600s and was last worked from about 1900 -
1940s. The tour passes through various large and impressive stopes. What
really impressed me was that (a) the guide actually knew what he was
talking about and (b)the area that the tour passed through had not
been "sanitised"; it felt real which, given the quality of some underground
tours, is a minor miracle. This is one of the best underground tours in
the West of England.
In short this tour comes highly recommended. The trip lasts, according to
the leaflet, 70 minutes and costs a very reasonable £5 for adults, £3.50
for children and £15 for a family (2&2). Tours operate on weekdays and
need to be prebooked. Tours are operated by Baseresult who are attempting
to re open the mine, they can be contacted at: "South Crofty Mine,
Dudnance Lane, Pool, Redruth, TR15 3QT or 'phone 01209 715777"
Rick Stewart
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