Ding Dong Mine

Eliza Jane Hall was just 17 when she died in an horrific accident at Ding Dong Mine in West Cornwall.  As a bal maiden, she was one of the many young women in Cornwall who worked hard above ground in the mines.  Like her friend Alice Ann Stevens, she was employed in the stamp mill where small lumps of ore were crushed into sand-like material.  She had probably been labouring from the age of about ten and could have expected to stop when she got married.  Sadly, that was never to be.  Fooling around during a meal break, she climbed onto a stationery wheel used to haul materials up from underground. Alice, who was washing her hands at the time, shouted at her to get down but, as the wheel began to move, Eliza excitedly declared ‘I will go round’.  Seconds later, her dress got caught in the machinery, crushing her right leg and extensively breaking her left foot.  Medical help was quickly to hand but the poor girl died from her injuries the same day.  She was buried at Gulval.

Mines were very dangerous places and Ding Dong’s distinctive chimney on windswept Penwith Moors stands as a reminder of many such lives and losses.  Getting there means walking over land that has probably changed little over millennia, vulnerable to weather extremes and dramatic in terms of views.  Mine workers would have trudged the muddy, gorse-bordered paths on a daily basis, passing the Bronze Age Men-an-Tol en route.  The holed stone is said to be responsible for miraculous cures thanks to a Cornish pisky guardian and legend has it that, if a woman passes backwards through the hole seven times at full moon, she will soon become pregnant.

Richard Trevithick worked as an engineer at Ding Dong in 1797 and it was there that he first developed a high pressure engine capable of raising ore and refuse from the mine.  When the legal representatives of rival engineers threatened to take him to court for infringing their patent, this giant of a man frightened them off with his own threat of throwing them down the Ding Dong shaft. Four years later, Trevithick’s famous passenger-carrying steam locomotive puffed its way into the history books.

Standing proud, tall and remote in its bleak moorland setting, with views for miles around, Ding Dong Mine is an intriguing sentinel to the past whose hidden depths run deep.

Useful info

• SAT Nav: TR20 8XX

• Head for TR20 8NT and park in the layby. The circular route to Ding Dong Mine, the Men-an-Tol and Nine Maidens Stone Circle takes about 2 hours.  

• The route is gently undulating, without any very steep inclines.

• Robust, waterproof footwear is highly recommended.

• There are no dog waste bins.

• There are no roads, so your dog can stay off-lead all the way.

• There are no public toilets.

• Parking in the layby is free but space is limited.

What’s nearby?

• Lanyon Quoit, three standing stones with a large flat capstone, weighing 13 tons, resting on top of them – hence the Quoit’s alternative names Giant’s Table or Giant’s Tomb. Situated in a field on the right as you approach the parking area for the Ding Dong Mine walk, it’s an impressive sight – once you’ve managed to spot its location from the road.

• Madron enjoys stunning views of Mount’s Bay. Its church once served the Penzance district and, between the village and the rocky outcrop behind it known as Madron Carn, is a well-known holy well (TR20 8SD) that’s reputed to have miraculous healing powers. 

• Chun Castle (TR20 8PX) is an impressive Iron Age hill fort on the opposite side of the road to the Ding Dong Mine walk. Roughly circular, you can see the remains of several houses, two 3-metre high stone walls and an external ditch. The views are far-reaching.

Did you know?

In its final 20 years of operation, Ding Dong produced nearly 3,000 tons of black tin worth around £155,000.

Time for tea

The Tinners Arms in Zennor was built in 1271 for the masons who built the local church.  Stone floors, log fires, low ceilings and a lovely outdoor area make it a perfect place to enjoy good food in a beautiful coastal setting.

What else?

The Nine Maidens Stone Circle which is otherwise known as Boskednan.  Despite the name, it’s thought that there were originally 22 stones but there are now only 11 and not all of them are standing upright.  The site is Neolithic and believed to have been used for pagan rituals more than four thousand years ago.