Mine Collection

Ruins of Wheal Coates Tin Mine engine house, near St Agnes, Cornwall, England

Miners working at the coalface, South Wales
Two miners, stripped to the waist, working at the coalface in a coal seam in South Wales

Wheal Coates, abandoned disused Cornish tin mine at sunset, near St. Agnes, North Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Coal miners in shaft lift, South Wales
Several coal miners with blackened faces stand in the shaft lift at the end of their shift in a coal mine in South Wales

Miner at Geevor Tin Mine, Pendeen, Cornwall
Miner at work with a drill underground (below the sea) in Geevor Tin Mine, Pendeen, Cornwall, which was just about to cease operation. Date: circa 1986

Coal mine in England, 1850s
Removing coal in the Bradley mine, Staffordshire, England, 1850s. Hand-colored woodcut of a 19th century illustration

Coalmine pithead silhouetted at dusk, South Wales, United Kingdom, Europe

Captain Tom Gundry, champion Cornish wrestler. Probably early 1880s
A studio portrait photograph of the champion Cornish wrestler, Thomas Gundry, wearing a wrestling jacket and two championship sashes

A Miner Success by Bruce Bairnsfather, WW1 cartoon
" They must ave ad some good news or somethin, Alf; you can ear em cheerin quite plain." Two British Tommies, Bill and Alf

Silhouette of a bucket wheel reclaimer at an iron ore mine

Ruins of Wheal Coates Tin Mine engine house, near St Agnes, Cornwall, England

East Pool Mine, Illogan, Cornwall. 1892
Croust time ; croust is a Cornish term for lunch. The image includes the photographers son, front row, second from left, with nine miners. Photographer: John Charles Burrow

East Pool Mine, Illogan, Cornwall. Around 1900
Group of miners in the 70 level, including the photographers wife and son. Photographer: John Charles Burrow

Cornish wrestling group, Randfontein, Transvaal, South Africa. Around 1900
Cornish wrestlers, officials, trophies and prizes pictured outside what appears to be the Transvaal miners sports clubhouse

Lea Hall Colliery and Rugeley A Power Station, Staffordshire, 1963. Lea Hall was the first colliery planned and sunk by the National Coal Board (NCB) and work began in 1954

Gelli coalmine, Rhondda, South Wales
View of the Gelli coalmine, Rhondda, South Wales. Date: 1935

Trevaunance Coombe with steamworks in foreground below Wheal Friendly, St Agnes, Cornwall. Early 1900s
Viewed from above Peterville. A buddle, an apparatus by which the stamped tin is washed from its impurities, is pictured in the foreground

Two miners in a narrow coal seam, South Wales
Two miners, one of them quite young, working in a narrow coal seam in a mine in South Wales

Humphrey Jennings The Silent Village (1943)

Gold, Carnon Stream Works, Perranarworthal, Cornwall, England
Gold is a native element and precious metal which has been prized by mankind for thousands of years for its beauty, malleability and resistance to corrosion

Miner and canary
Staffordshire coal miner gently holds the last canary to work down a British coal mine. Canaries were used to detect poisonous and dangerous gas in mines Date: 1986

Picture No. 11981521
Wheal Coates - Engine House - St Agnes - Cornwall - UK Date:

View at Wheal Coates tin mine, St Agnes, Cornwall
View at Wheal Coates former tin mine, on the cliff top between Porthtowan and St Agnes, north coast of Cornwall, showing the Towanroath Shaft Pumping Engine House. Date: circa 1980s

Cape Cornwall, St Just in Penwith, Cornwall. 1900
Stereoscopic view of hill with stack and engine house. Photographer: Unknown

East Pool Mine Illogan, Cornwall. 1893
Clearing out ore from landing brace at surface. Photographer: John Charles Burrow

England, Tyne and Wear, Angel of the North. The Angel of the North statue near the cities of Gateshead and Newcastle Upon Tyne

Mormons cutting stone for their temple, Utah
Quarrying stone for the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, 1870s. Hand-colored woodcut of a 19th-century illustration

Bedwas Navigation Colliery, Monmouthshire, South Wales
View of Lewis Merthyr Pit, Bedwas Navigation Colliery, Monmouthshire, South Wales. The colliery opened in 1913 and closed in the mid-1980s, after the Miners Strike

Welsh women road builders, South Wales
A group of twenty Welsh women road builders in Pembrokeshire, Dyfed, South Wales, holding their spades. They built the road to Hook in 1903-4 to facilitate transport to the colliery

Coal miner filling truck, South Wales mine
A coal miner (Billy Hurland) filling a dram (coal truck) at Baldwins Level (nicknamed Clog and Legging) in a coalmine near Pontypool in South Wales

Miner riding drams, Tirpentwys Colliery, South Wales
A miner riding a journey of drams (coal trucks) at Tirpentwys Colliery near Pontypool in South Wales. Date: 1910

Its Mine, Poster, Canada, the right land for the right man, with Canadian National Railways

WEST VIRGINIA: COAL MINE. The next trip. Coal miners sitting in a mining car, ready to go into the mine shaft at Maidsville, West Virginia. Photograph by Marion Post Wolcott, September 1938

Amalbrea tin stream works, Towednack, Cornwall. 1920s
Surface view of the Amalbrea tin stream works at Towednack which were worked by John James Curnow. Photographer: A.K. Hamilton Jenkin

Carn Brea Mine, Illogan, Cornwall. Around 1900
Stoping the lode in the 285 level, pare of 10 miners. Photographer: John Charles Burrow

Tourist route, Wieliczka Salt Mine, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Krakow, Malopolska, Poland, Europe

Cornish tin mines, 19th century
Cornish tin mines, 19th-century artwork. These mines are in the parish of St Just in Penwith, Cornwall, UK. 19th-century tin mines in this area date back to 1721

Dolly Sisters and chorus in Diamond tableaux
The Dolly Sisters wearing creations by Jean Patou and chorus in the tableaux La Mine Diamants (Diamond Mine), Paris En Fleurs, Casino de Paris, Paris, 1925 1925

Cwmpennar Colliery, Glamorgan, South Wales
View of Cwmpennar Colliery (also known as the Powell Duffryn Colliery), Mountain Ash, Glamorgan, South Wales

Marine Colliery, Cwm, Ebbw Vale, Gwent, South Wales
View of the Marine Colliery, Cwm, Ebbw Vale, Gwent, South Wales. Date: early 20th century

Sketch map of Hook, Pembrokeshire, South Wales
A sketch map of the village of Hook, including the various mining shafts of the colliery, on the Western Cleddau near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, South Wales

Wyndham Colliery, Nantymoel, Ogmore Vale, South Wales
A pre-1914 image of the Wyndham Colliery, Nantymoel, Ogmore Vale, South Wales which opened in 1868. Date: circa 1900s

New Tredegar Colliery, Rhymney Valley, South Wales
An engine house damaged by subsidence at New Tredegar Colliery, Rhymney Valley, South Wales. This colliery suffered from many landslips and other geological problems, and eventually closed in 1930

Picking coal from waste tip during 1921 strike, South Wales
Three men picking coal from a local colliery waste tip during the 1921 strike, South Wales

Man at work, Dinorwig Slate Quarry, North Wales
A man at work, 150 feet up on the main face of Dinorwig (or Dinorwic) Slate Quarry, near Llanberis, North Wales

COAL MINE / PENITENT
A penitent, so named because his clothing resembled that of religious orders, rids the air of explosive gas by setting fire to it. A dangerous task, that often ended unhappily

England, Tyne and Wear, Angel of the North. The Angel of the North statue near the cities of Gateshead and Newcastle Upon Tyne

PIT PONIES / 1853
Working with horses in the Bradley Mine, near Bilston, Staffordshire [England]

Cave of Crystals, Naica Mine, Mexico
^BCave of Crystals.^b Geologist in the Cave of Crystals (^ICueva de los Cristales^i) in Naica Mine, Chihuahua, Mexico. The crystals are the largest known in the world

Engine house at Carn Galver tin mine, Cornwall
Engine house silhouetted against the sky at sunset at Carn Galver disused tin mine, near Bosigran, Cornwall. Date: 20th century

Coal mining by G. H. Davis
Coal mine working and outcrop production: how coal, so vital to every form of war industry, can be won from opencast veins at shallow depths. Date: 1944

Botallack Long Exposure
A long exposure of the abandoned tin mines at Botallack, Cornwall in the west of Cornwall, England, UK. Since 2006 it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site - Cornwall

King Edward VII Mine, South Condurrow, Camborne, Cornwall. 27th November 1903
Students working underground at an unknown depth at King Edward VII mine, South Condurrow, Camborne, Cornwall. Photographer: John Charles Burrow

Tourist route, Chapel of St. Kinga, Wieliczka Salt Mine, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Krakow, Malopolska, Poland, Europe

Wheal Coates - at sunset - St Agnes, Cornwall, UK
DAC-1301 Wheal Coates - at sunset St Agnes, Cornwall, UK David Chapman Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Bingham Canyon Copper Mine or Kennecott Mine
Bingham Canyon Copper Mine (Kennecott Copper Mine), Utah, USA Date: circa 1910s

Leadville, a Colorado boom town, 1870s
Chestnut Street in Leadville, Colorado, during the mining boom, 1870s. Hand-colored woodcut of a 19th-century illustration

Disused Tin mine, Cornwall
The ruins of a disused Cornish tin mine

Penrhiwceibr Colliery, Glamorgan, South Wales
View of Penrhiwceibr (Penrhiwceiber) Colliery, Glamorgan, South Wales. The colliery closed in 1985

Bestwood Colliery, near Bestwood Village, Nottinghamshire
View of Bestwood Colliery, near Bestwood Village, Nottinghamshire. The colliery closed in 1967, but the surviving headstock and winding house, and vertical steam engine of 1873

Miners and owner, Hook Colliery, Pembrokeshire, South Wales
A group of men at Hook Colliery, near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, South Wales. They are the current shift of miners plus the owner, standing near a wooden headframe connected to a mineshaft

General view of Dinorwig Slate Quarry, North Wales
A general view of Dinorwig (or Dinorwic) Slate Quarry, near Llanberis, North Wales, soon to be changed for ever with the construction of a new dam

Haulier and assistant, Baldwins Level, South Wales
A haulier and his assistant, with a pit pony pulling a truck, at Baldwins Clog and Legging Level, near Pontypool, South Wales

Miners at the pit bottom, Tirpentwys Colliery, South Wales
A group of miners at the pit bottom of Tirpentwys Colliery, near Pontypool in South Wales

Penrhyn quarry, the largest slate quarry in Wales, Bethesda, Snowdonia, North Wales, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe

Lake Submarine / Diver
A diver from a " Simon Lake" submarine placing a mine in channels used by enemy ship 2 of 2

The Big Hole, part of Kimberley diamond mine which yielded 2722 kg of diamonds, Northern Cape, South Africa, Africa

Wheal Coates - engine house in winter snow - St Agnes - Cornwall - UK
DAC-518 Wheal Coates - engine house in winter snow St Agnes - Cornwall - UK David Chapman Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

MOLLY MAGUIRES, 1874. Holding a clandestine meeting during a strike in the Pennsylvania coal fields. Wood engraving from an American newspaper of 1874

VIRGINIA: SALT MINE, 1857. Salt mine at Saltville, Virginia. Wood engraving, American, 1857

19th-century tin mine, Cornwall. Artwork of miners and walkways at the Botallack Copper and Tin Mine at St Just, Cornwall, England. This mine, under various names, dates back to 1721

CALIFORNIA: GOLD MINING. Lithograph by Currier & Ives, 1871

Miner working in a coal seam, South Wales
A miner, stripped to the waist, with a pick resting across his shoulder and a lamp in his hand, in a coal seam in South Wales

Snowdon from the east showing a derelict mine, Wales. Date: 1950s

Ruins of Wheal Coates Tin Mine engine house, near St Agnes, Cornwall, England

Blitz in London -- bomb disposal at Charing Cross
Blitz in London -- soldiers using a trolley to remove a land mine on Hungerford Railway Bridge, Charing Cross, on 17 April 1941

Bingham Canyon copper mine, largest man-made hole in the world, United States of America, North America

Wheal Coates Mine, St. Agnes, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Botallack Tin Mine on the coast, Cornwall, England, UK

Saving of Audacious Crew
Audacious, one of the most powerful members of the Allied fleet, is sunk by a German mine. A rescue operation is immediately begun

Blitz in London -- bomb disposal at Charing Cross
Blitz in London -- soldiers using a trolley to remove a land mine on Hungerford Railway Bridge, Charing Cross, on 17 April 1941

Chuqui open-pit copper mine, 4km long, 720m d eep, trucks each carrying 300t of ore, Chuquicamata, Calama, Chile, South America

Tin dressing floor at Wheal Sparnon being turned into Victoria Park, Redruth, Cornwall. Late 1800s
A gentleman wearing a bowler hat is standing to the left of centre. The area in the photograph is now covered by Clinton Road, Park Road and Albany Road, Redruth

View of Tirpentwys Colliery, Pontypool, South Wales
View of Tirpentwys Colliery near Pontypool in South Wales

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"Unearthing the Depths: Tales of Resilience and Riches" Descending into the depths, coal miners in South Wales navigate the shaft lift with unwavering determination. At Geevor Tin Mine in Cornwall, a miner stands proudly amidst the remnants of an industry that once thrived. Sweat-soaked brows and calloused hands tell stories of grit as miners work tirelessly at the coalface in South Wales. The golden allure of Carnon Stream Works in Cornwall draws prospectors seeking treasures buried beneath its flowing waters. A miner's faithful companion, a canary perched on his shoulder serves as a warning system against unseen dangers below ground. Captain Tom Gundry, an emblematic figure from Cornish history, showcases strength and prowess as a champion wrestler during the 1880s. In Rhondda's Gelli coalmine, echoes of hard labor resonate through time as generations toil for their livelihoods deep within its tunnels. Transported back to England's 1850s, we witness the arduous efforts undertaken by coal miners striving for progress and survival. Wheal Coates stands silently at sunset—a testament to Cornwall's abandoned tin mining legacy—its ruins whispering tales of past prosperity. Filling truck after truck with black gold, South Wales' coal miners contribute their sweat and sacrifice to fuel industries far beyond their reach. Bruce Bairnsfather's WW1 cartoon "A Miner Success" encapsulates both humor and camaraderie amidst challenging times underground. In these glimpses into mines across different eras and regions, we uncover stories etched within walls soaked with perspiration—the triumphs won through perseverance or fortunes lost amid shifting landscapes beneath our feet.