Historic Cornish mining cart embedded in cliff face for 80 years

still of mining cart in cliff face
Mining cart stuck in cliffs at Gwithian Credit: ITV News

A mining cart dating from World War One has been spotted jutting out from the cliffs at Gwithian Towans in Cornwall.

The cart would have been used in tin mining operations as part of the Gwithian Sands Tin Stream between 1920 and 1942.

Apparently abandoned, over time it has become embedded in the cliff face.

The mining cart in the cliffs at Gwithian Credit: ITV News

80 years ago the popular sandy beach was an industrial landscape.

Gwithian would have been dotted with pylon-like structures hoisting tin sand extracted from the beach.

Ben Sumpter, Cornish Mining Historian said: ''There was actually an aerial ropeway that transported tin, sand and gravel that would be deposited over a mile away towards Godrevy, where it would be processed in a plant and then smelted into tin ingots to be sold.''

The abandoned cart has been left suspended in the air, waiting for erosion to eventually release it.

It first started to appear a decade ago, but after recent vegetation clearance work by local enthusiasts it has become much more prominent. 


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