Interesting information
For a while, Devon Great Consuls was the greatest copper mine in Europe and later became the largest arsenic workings in the world. It is now a martian-like landscape. Ore was transported along the mineral railways of the area which now form the trails to the docks at Morwellham Quay. The dramatic increase in copper mining in the 1860s created so much waste that the Wheal Josiah Bridge was built over the railway, allowing the spoil to be tipped down the hillside.
The pool in the dell of Rubbytown Valley is one of the settling ponds which dealt with the discharge from the Wheal Emma processing works.
At the Wheal Anna Maria Arsenic Works you will find a viewing platform at the heart of the 1920s arsenic complex (the 1868 works were demolished in 1903). This is where the deadly poison arsenic was made by men and boys protected only by cotton wool in their ears and nostrils, and handkerchiefs across their mouths.
At Wheal Fanny there are the remains of cobbled dressing floors where women and children would break the ore with long spalling hammers
