A new book has just been released it is mainly photographic with some very
detailed B&W and Colour  photos of surface and underground and is certainly
worhy of adding to your bookshelf.

Mike


Wheal Jane - The Final Mining
Years<http://moorebooks.co.uk/shelves/cart.php?target=product&product_id=20134&category_id=249>,
John Peck, HB, 214x230mm, 144pp, price £16.99 + P&P


 Wheal Jane was one of the greatest mines of the huge complex of workings
in the Chacewater area in West Cornwall. Worked from the mid eighteenth
century principally for tin – arsenic, copper, silver and zinc were also
extracted. As with many of Cornwall’s mines, Wheal Jane suffered the
vagaries of the rise and fall in world commodity prices, closing and
re-opening at various times. But throughout the centuries it had witnessed
the Cornish hard rock miner at work, forging their place in what has become
a cornerstone of Cornwall’s historic legacy: mining. A re-opening of Wheal
Jane in 1969 coincided with the arrival in the area of photographer John
Peck who was asked to take photographs of the mine for an exhibition to
include images taken of both underground and surface workings. While on
this assignment an accident occurred at the mine and John was asked to
record the site for evidence. From this time on he became the ‘official’
photographer to Wheal Jane, recording all aspects of the work there. It is
these unique photographs that appear in this book. Taking photographs in
such extreme conditions requires patience, skill and a breadth of
experience born only of actually working underground. Equally important is
gaining the trust of the miners themselves, not only in their co-operation
in effecting the best images, but in their confidence that the photographer
will record, with honesty, the exceptional challenges of their work. That
John Peck fulfilled all these requirements is witnessed in the superb
photographs appearing in this book. The high regard in which he was held by
the miners is evidenced by his photographs of their meetings and
demonstrations, angrily protesting the proposed closure of the mine; events
at which photographers from the media were not welcome! In 1992 pumps at
Wheal Jane were switched off once again and all that remains are the
memories of those who once worked there and these remarkable photographs,
vital documents recording its last years and its mining legacy. John Peck
is a professional photographer (now retired) based near Chacewater in
Cornwall

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