Goonvean China Clay Works - Engine House With Boiler-House And Detached Chimney

ST STEPHEN IN GOONVEAN CHINA CLAY WORKS SW 95 NV BRANNEL 1/133 Engine house with boiler-house and - detached chimney

GV II*

Engine house with detached chimney; housing a pumping engine. Dated 1910. Granite rubble with brick dressings. Slate roof with crested ridge tiles and gable ends. Chimney in granite rubble with stone dressings. Plan: Rectangular plan pumping engine house with detached chimney about 10 metres to east. Formerly used for pumping the china clay pits. Exterior: The engine house is 3-storey, with symmetrical front gable end to east; central plank door with sidelights and round-arched fanlight with radial glazing bars and four courses of brickwork round the arch, datestone set as a keystone. First and second floors have central round-arched 12-pane sash with brick arches. Later additions at the left sides. The right side has similar round-arched sash at first floor, ground floor window blocked. The left side has a large lean-to which is the boiler-house and similar sash at second floor. At the rear, there is a doorway at upper ground floor level with round brick arch and keystone, 4-panelled door, formerly leading to a platform. Rectangular bob opening above, weatherboarded at the top of the gable, and with cast iron beam housing. The chimney is of circular plan, tapered, with a bull-nose moulding at the top as a cornice. Interior: The beam engine survives inside. It was built in the 1860s by Harveys of Hayle and originally situated in an engine house in St Agnes. The engine was moved here from Goon Innis mine, St Agnes in 1910. The existing beam was cast in 1928 to replace one that broke. The new (1928) beam was cast by Holmans of Cambourne and it is reputedly the last in the world to be cast. The boilers have been removed. Only 6 Cornish beam engines survive and a few more exist outside the country. This is a rare early example. Source: Provide new source. SMR - J. Smith.Trounson, J.: Mining in Cornwall Vol. II.

Listing NGR: SW9496655284