Compressor House, Chimney, Whim Engine House And Electricity Substation At Robinsons Shaft, South Crofty Mine

This complex of buildings at Robinson’s Shaft, part of the South Crofty Mine, comprises a whim engine house built in 1908 and a compressor house, chimney, and electricity substation constructed in 1909. The buildings are primarily constructed of killed stone rubble with granite and brick dressings, and have corrugated sheet roofs.

The layout includes a single-depth pumping shaft with an engine house and boiler house to the east, while the whim engine house, compressor house, chimney, and electricity substation are situated to the north. A long carpenters' shop and workshops close a yard to the west.

The whim engine house has four raised windows on its eastern side, each with timber lintels; one has been blocked above an inserted garage door on the left. The south gable has been rebuilt with concrete block, the north gable is in two parts, the right-hand section narrower with a single window. The west wall is windowless, featuring an entrance that faces the ruins of a former boiler house.

The compressor house has granite quoins and a brick upper section to its side walls. It features a round-arched sash window on the east side and on the south gable, and a gable with oculi at the top. The west side has a round-arched doorway flanked by windows, lacking original joinery. The electricity substation is similarly constructed with round-arched openings to the north and west sides. A free-standing, truncated chimney is built of coursed rubble.

Inside the compressor house is a softwood roof with iron tension rods and diagonal wooden struts, along with evidence of a traveler crane.

This complex represents the South Crofty Mine as it was by 1914, following reorganization between 1900 and 1908, and the relocation of a steam engine from Tregurtha Downs. It includes paired engine houses for pumping and winding, the compressor house, its chimney, and extensive workshops. The persistence of mining into the 20th century in the Camborne/Redruth area has left a few extraordinarily well-preserved complexes, and this is the most complete surviving part of the South Crofty workings; the mine was the last working tin mine in Europe and closed in 1998. Its remarkable preservation is important nationally and includes other buildings such as the engine house and boiler house which are strongly representative of 19th and early 20th century mine workings.