Cor. The number of times I’ve been to perranporth over 50 years. I always knew the cliffs were riddled with mine workings, but your video is my first view ‘inside’. Very many thanks for this entertains and educational half hour.
great video of cligga mine. my dad, tony taylor worked cligga mine in the late 1960's when they sunk the main shaft. my dad mined in cornwall for 17 years at all the well known mines. he loved it.
Excellent video thanks, I remember spending many days as a teenager exploring those mines in the late sixty's. with my trusty torch and a spare battery. also remember starting at the beach and coming out much higher as you did. I had to jump down some back then to get on the slope to make my way back up. A lot of the shafts in the tunnels were completely covered back then with wood and mud. So I was unaware they were there until I heard some creaking and a bit of a crash behind me. the wood had collapsed revealing a very large dark hole in the ground. There was still the odd miners tool down there back then I remember finding a miners hammer and also a stubby but heavy diamond shaped pick, but they weren't much use as the handles were rotten. I had pencil and paper with me to draw maps for next time I went. Great fun for us local kids.
It's hard to believe this is almost literally right under our noses and feet. I'm grateful for people such as yourself, Ben, to show us the history, heritage, scale and sheer awesomeness of such places, as you'd not see me in there for all the love or money in the world 😬
Excellent meander through those quite extensive Cligga Head workings. Definitely lots of pitfalls, mantraps & hazards for the reckless and unwary. Nan/Nat & Eric led the way while Ben filmed & narrated. The sheer size of some of those huge stopes is just incredible! Should you 3 were ever needing to bring your own sturdy ladder, I’m certain Erik & Ben could’ve convinced Nan/Nat to mule it around for everyone?!
I went and did Cligga on SRT from the very top to the bottom inside the mine some 30 years back and remember thinking back then that it was very loose with kaolinised granite (yes you are correct with then term, it is the feldspar in the granite being turned to clay and destroys the integrity of the rock). The mid section has huge bands of kaolinisation, making some of the wall quite unstable. So impressed with the mine overall but one to watch you step in for sure.
Some intensely kaolinised granites throughout there Ben, highlighted as you said at @5:00 - Cligga Head is a local hotbed for alteration and decomposition of the initial geology through the presence of fluids that allowed for the tungsten to mineralise. Great explore as always!
A lot of the holes in the floor of levels were raises from stopes below to aid ventilation and boarded over mostly to allow track to pass over the top and continued when I was mining through the 70s. By this time all ore went up via a main shaft often from a crusher on the lowest level .
Nice to see your back . I live in us in Narragansett ri and I own Avery nice collection of old English mineral crystals . It’s nice to see where some of them might have come from .
Went into the top level of this mine about 20 years ago with some people who knew what they were doing and the appropriate equipment, fascinating to see the deeper workings.
I always thought you could go up through the entire lot but maybe there is some ropes missing now. We saw several ways up but they were too dodgy to climb. I know some people prefer to start up the top then go down through the lot and do the trip in reverse to how we did it but I quite like to go up through instead 🙂
That was quite hair- raising at times, and brought back memories of my own from around 1977. I was on army camp at Penhale with the school cadet corps, and despite the old workings being strictly off limits, a mate and I went down some, must have been the old Gravel Hill workings. I remember the niches in the walls, still covered with tallow, and wondering just how long ago it had been left like that. We found our way out onto the beach, and no-one at camp were any the wiser. "Why're you all muddy?" "We've been to the pub" seemed to satisfy the gate sentry!
That’s gravel hill, there’s a video online on my channel when we dive that pool by the beach ! Got told it was really deep, it was about 5m 🤣 that beach adit is open again now and you can walk right up into the rest of the mine
@BenoCam Thanks, I'll check it out. Damn, I remember that story about the pool, that it was so deep it would draw you down like suction! 5m? Fancy that. Like Dozmary Pool was bottomless, until it dried up one summer...
😍 a couple of diving ones all filmed just need editing then need to get back down some mines. Hopefully some time for an adventure or two over Christmas ! 🙂
I first visit that mine and entered it back in 1971/72 Still have some samples from the mail tin load. As you say there are some big drops inside the mine shaft ; not to be taken lightly.
I've done this earlier in the year but didn't go into the crawly old mens workings and neither did you... Glad my clay mushroom is holding up well as spotted at 19:33 😄
@BenoCam that's the one, it was apparently full of Spanish gold wasn't it? I remember walking along the clifftop from droskyn to cligga with my late dad when I was about 8/9
It was supposed to. But they were probably quickly dispersed everywhere on the seabed and would have quickly buried. A company was set up that got investors to fund the treasure hunt but that didn’t go very well. The sand was high and as always the weather is very unsettled there. I think they lifted some cannons but that was about it. The gold was never found, or if it was they kept it very quiet !
In the early days we took one around. There’s a few places it will go off where ventilation is poor where sometimes you get low oxygen levels. But unlike coal mines it’s very unusual to get bad gases in these metal mines. It would be sensible though and I would recommend one
I have one I’m part way through editing. It’s all filmed I just never finished it. I also have another part way filmed but I might be able to do something with it. Will try and do it this week. Just need some weather then to get out and film some more !
Where abouts are you based ? There’s not many like this that you don’t need any gear for. You after a proper tour or just want some locations you can turn up yourself and explore in reasonable safety ?
Cor. The number of times I’ve been to perranporth over 50 years. I always knew the cliffs were riddled with mine workings, but your video is my first view ‘inside’. Very many thanks for this entertains and educational half hour.
Cheers glad you enjoyed
great video of cligga mine. my dad, tony taylor worked cligga mine in the late 1960's when they sunk the main shaft. my dad mined in cornwall for 17 years at all the well known mines. he loved it.
Excellent video thanks, I remember spending many days as a teenager exploring those mines in the late sixty's. with my trusty torch and a spare battery. also remember starting at the beach and coming out much higher as you did. I had to jump down some back then to get on the slope to make my way back up. A lot of the shafts in the tunnels were completely covered back then with wood and mud. So I was unaware they were there until I heard some creaking and a bit of a crash behind me. the wood had collapsed revealing a very large dark hole in the ground. There was still the odd miners tool down there back then I remember finding a miners hammer and also a stubby but heavy diamond shaped pick, but they weren't much use as the handles were rotten. I had pencil and paper with me to draw maps for next time I went.
Great fun for us local kids.
Ha awesome. Always good to hear stories from these places. Bet it was interesting before it had had the volume of traffic it has now had
It's hard to believe this is almost literally right under our noses and feet.
I'm grateful for people such as yourself, Ben, to show us the history, heritage, scale and sheer awesomeness of such places, as you'd not see me in there for all the love or money in the world 😬
Haha no problem and thankyou
Enjoyed that, nice to see a Cornish mine that is actually easy to get in!
Really cool to see , lived in Cornwall my whole life but never been down a mine shaft
Glad you enjoyed. Plenty about if you fancy one 🙂
Excellent as always Ben. Thank-you and the team for providing us with more incredible footage. Respect!
This is of huge interest to me, my ancestors were miners and lived a short distance away in Bolingey!
Glad you enjoyed . More to film when I get a chance !
Excellent meander through those quite extensive Cligga Head workings. Definitely lots of pitfalls, mantraps & hazards for the reckless and unwary. Nan/Nat & Eric led the way while Ben filmed & narrated. The sheer size of some of those huge stopes is just incredible! Should you 3 were ever needing to bring your own sturdy ladder, I’m certain Erik & Ben could’ve convinced Nan/Nat to mule it around for everyone?!
🤣👍👍 Nat wouldn’t mind 🙂
I went and did Cligga on SRT from the very top to the bottom inside the mine some 30 years back and remember thinking back then that it was very loose with kaolinised granite (yes you are correct with then term, it is the feldspar in the granite being turned to clay and destroys the integrity of the rock). The mid section has huge bands of kaolinisation, making some of the wall quite unstable. So impressed with the mine overall but one to watch you step in for sure.
I went there a couple years ago, went to the entrance but didn’t go inside always wondered what was down there. Another awesome video 👌
Cheers glad you enjoyed
Glad to see some new underground content..bleddy ansome🎉
Another one on the way uploading today !
Some intensely kaolinised granites throughout there Ben, highlighted as you said at @5:00 - Cligga Head is a local hotbed for alteration and decomposition of the initial geology through the presence of fluids that allowed for the tungsten to mineralise. Great explore as always!
Cheers. Yeah some interesting geology going on in that area
Thanks so much for posting this awesome footage. Love Cornwall and the mining history, so interesting to see down this mine.
Cheers glad you enjoyed it 🙂
A lot of the holes in the floor of levels were raises from stopes below to aid ventilation and boarded over mostly to allow track to pass over the top and continued when I was mining through the 70s. By this time all ore went up via a main shaft often from a crusher on the lowest level .
Ah interesting. Always wondering when walking about on those upper levels what is underneath your feet and how solid it is !
As always an amazing video, thanks so much for sharing, all the best from Somerset 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻✨
Cheers glad you enjoyed 🙂
Great stuff Ben, I ain't been in there for ages so good to see the old place once again.
That was brilliant guys.👍
Nice to see your back . I live in us in Narragansett ri and I own Avery nice collection of old English mineral crystals . It’s nice to see where some of them might have come from .
🙂👍
Fab video again, yours are the best ones out there, what a fascinating place. Thank you!
😍👍👍
Another great video, all done with a pair of boots from Macsalvors. Great navigation on that one, seems like a bit of a warren of tunnels
Went into the top level of this mine about 20 years ago with some people who knew what they were doing and the appropriate equipment, fascinating to see the deeper workings.
I always thought you could go up through the entire lot but maybe there is some ropes missing now. We saw several ways up but they were too dodgy to climb. I know some people prefer to start up the top then go down through the lot and do the trip in reverse to how we did it but I quite like to go up through instead 🙂
Another interesting video - thanks Ben & co.
That was quite hair- raising at times, and brought back memories of my own from around 1977. I was on army camp at Penhale with the school cadet corps, and despite the old workings being strictly off limits, a mate and I went down some, must have been the old Gravel Hill workings. I remember the niches in the walls, still covered with tallow, and wondering just how long ago it had been left like that. We found our way out onto the beach, and no-one at camp were any the wiser. "Why're you all muddy?" "We've been to the pub" seemed to satisfy the gate sentry!
That’s gravel hill, there’s a video online on my channel when we dive that pool by the beach ! Got told it was really deep, it was about 5m 🤣 that beach adit is open again now and you can walk right up into the rest of the mine
@BenoCam Thanks, I'll check it out. Damn, I remember that story about the pool, that it was so deep it would draw you down like suction! 5m? Fancy that. Like Dozmary Pool was bottomless, until it dried up one summer...
Awesome work Benno! That one looks like a maze. I wonder how far below sea level they sunk that lower shaft? Great adventure.
Nice one Ben. Scallywags used to shove cars off there when you had vehicle access. Used to be an engine or 2 down on the beach
There’s still a few engine blocks and axles on the foreshore !
Oops🫤 never been called a scallywag before 😂
Great video, I've been in Cligga hundreds of times, you missed the old men's workings on bottom level🤗
They are too crawly for me I’m over 6ft … 🤣 plus I went in then years ago and from memory they didn’t go that far ?
Awesome video. I walk that way with my dogs daily. There's a few big openings up on the top but I've never been daft enough to see how far they go
interesting stuff ben, thanks for sharing
No problem glad you enjoyed
Evening Ben O good to see you back sir
😍 a couple of diving ones all filmed just need editing then need to get back down some mines. Hopefully some time for an adventure or two over Christmas ! 🙂
Very interesting.
Looked a great mine to explore.
It’s ok, it’s a nice easy one with no ropes required to get in which is unusual !
I first visit that mine and entered it back in 1971/72 Still have some samples from the mail tin load. As you say there are some big drops inside the mine shaft ; not to be taken lightly.
It must have been a bugger in the olden days going home after a hard day's work!
Especially in the rain, it’s a fair old path after a days graft !
Enjoyed this one 👌
🙂👍
I've done this earlier in the year but didn't go into the crawly old mens workings and neither did you... Glad my clay mushroom is holding up well as spotted at 19:33 😄
Seemed to be one of the few surviving clay pieces after NAMHO cleared it out
@@GingerMole 😮 oh no, extra lucky it survived then!
🤣👍 did the old workings years ago they didn’t go far and are rather crawly 😬
NAMHO ?
@@BenoCam got told they cleared it out before the tours they did earlier in the year
awesome video as always
Very interesting video, but I do wonder about your sanity sometimes. 😲
🤣🙈👍👍
very good footage in there ,, some really dodgy sections , too scary for me ;;;
Cheers glad you enjoyed
I grew up in perranporth, i remember them finding an old shipwreck down there
Probably the Hanover ? They put a Jack up rig over that hoping to find a load of gold, doesn’t sound like they found much though !
@BenoCam that's the one, it was apparently full of Spanish gold wasn't it? I remember walking along the clifftop from droskyn to cligga with my late dad when I was about 8/9
It was supposed to. But they were probably quickly dispersed everywhere on the seabed and would have quickly buried. A company was set up that got investors to fund the treasure hunt but that didn’t go very well. The sand was high and as always the weather is very unsettled there. I think they lifted some cannons but that was about it. The gold was never found, or if it was they kept it very quiet !
Love your mine explores. Great to watch.
One question - do you need a gas/o2 monitor for these?
In the early days we took one around. There’s a few places it will go off where ventilation is poor where sometimes you get low oxygen levels. But unlike coal mines it’s very unusual to get bad gases in these metal mines. It would be sensible though and I would recommend one
Wheyyy another video. Nice one Ben. Any more diving videos on the horizon?
I have one I’m part way through editing. It’s all filmed I just never finished it. I also have another part way filmed but I might be able to do something with it. Will try and do it this week. Just need some weather then to get out and film some more !
Love it Ben was this before or after the storm haha
That was about 3 weeks ago it’s just taken me ages to edit it
@@BenoCam hell up good video tho
Not been down for a few years i have to go down after Christmas. I See few bits have collapsed.
Unbelievable working conditions for the men.
I wouldn’t fancy climbing that path at the end of every shift either, especially in the dark wind or rain !
Been desperate to go down a tin mine, its been on my bucket list for years but every lead to someone has been a dead end
Where abouts are you based ? There’s not many like this that you don’t need any gear for. You after a proper tour or just want some locations you can turn up yourself and explore in reasonable safety ?
@ really a tour would be great
Meet the legendary Clay People of Cligga
They was a lot of other sculptures there bot cut out for family viewing 🤣
*not
Exploring potential dangerous old mine workings so that we don’t have too
🙂👍👍
id never find my way out !!
There’s 3 or 4 ways out you would be alright, just take lots of battery’s 🤣
❤
@13:27 - When you see it....
Face in the rock 😮 looks a bit like a 💀
I did have to re watch that a couple times to spot it 🙈
What if instead of Clix my name was Cligga
Harry Potter location?
I must have missed that one 🙈 actually to be honest I have not seen any of them
@BenoCam pretty sure they used this location for the Half Blood Prince! Great movies but not as good as the books
Least Nat was safety first wearing helmet walking down the the path
Have to done a video of gravel Hill mine at the end of Perranporth beach
Yeah dived it. Was told it was really deep, it was about 5m 🤣
@@BenoCam is that dead man's pool? Lol
Wassup cliggers
🤣