Levant Engine Houses

The Levant Engine Houses, dated 1840, are a pair of granite buildings dramatically situated on the edge of a 200-foot cliff. They served as engine houses for a former tin and copper mine, incorporating extensive galleries, including submarine works.

The hoist engine house has a hipped roof of Delabole slate, with a stunted circular stack at one end, and is two storeys higher than the pump engine house. The pump engine house is roofless and has one side open on the second floor; it may incorporate older fabric. The hoist engine house has two doorways and a sash window on the first floor. The pump engine house has two doors, one arched, and various smaller openings, including an arched opening on the first floor.

The peak of copper production occurred around 1900. The site was the location of Cornwall's worst mining disaster in 1919, when a broken section in the Main Engine resulted in the deaths of 31 miners and injuries to many others. The mine closed in 1930. The hoist engine house preserves the oldest existing Cornish engine, dating to around 1840. This engine initially hoisted men, and was replaced in 1856 by Mackay, then again in 1888 by a horizontal 18" and 30" compound engine. The site is now owned by the National Trust.