Gunpowder Magazine on the Northern Slopes of Carn Brea is a Grade II listed building in the Cornwall local planning authority area, England. First listed on 27 March 2008. Gunpowder magazine.

Gunpowder Magazine on the Northern Slopes of Carn Brea

WRENN ID
slow-rood-sepia
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Cornwall
Constituency
Camborne and Redruth MP: Perran Moon (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
27 March 2008
Type
Gunpowder magazine
OS grid reference
SW 679 409
Coordinates
50.22254, -5.25454
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Gunpowder Magazine on the northern slopes of Carn Brea is an early 19th-century structure built to store explosives, likely for the nearby Carn Brea Mine. Constructed from granite random rubble, the building is partially covered in ivy and currently has no roof. It features a circular design with an internal diameter of 4 meters and walls that are 0.55 meters thick, standing up to 1.9 meters high. The walls are made of mortared, uncoursed granite rubble and are externally rendered with cement. The entrance, which is 0.95 meters wide, faces north.

Although the building first appeared on the 1880 Ordnance Survey map, where it was incorrectly labeled as a chimney, its circular shape is distinctive for this region of Cornwall, as most gunpowder magazines are rectangular. Despite the loss of its roof, the structure remains in relatively good condition and is situated within a historically significant industrial landscape that is part of a designated World Heritage Site.

Local climate

Gunpowder Magazine on the Northern Slopes of Carn Brea receives an average of 880 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 65% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 87% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 5 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 97% of listed buildings. Of these, 2 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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