Engine House At Read'S Shaft Part Of Great Wheal Busy

The engine house at Read's Shaft, part of Great Wheal Busy, is a late 19th-century ruin. It is constructed of killas rubble with granite quoins and some granite jambstones. The building features brick arches or wooden lintels over its openings and has a brick upper stage leading to a round rubble chimney located at the north-west corner. It has a rectangular single-cell plan with an attached chimney at the corner and was originally three storeys when floored. The walls are mostly intact, although there is some loss of brickwork at the top of the chimney and a loss of the framed and weatherboarded wall on the second floor above the bob wall on the south side. The bob wall includes a round-headed opening to the ground floor, and the chimney has a corbelled brick collar.

Great Wheal Busy is an historic mine that began operations in 1823 under the name 'Chacewater Mines' and was known as 'Great Wheal Busy' from 1856. In 1865, it was described as having a pumping engine, stamping engine, winding engine, and crushing engine. Information is sourced from "The Mines of Cornwall" by Thomas Spargo.