THE CARADON MINING DISTRICT
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The mining landscape here at Caradon has been described as an example of Cornwall’s “Boom and Bust” scenarios. The landscape was an active Tin site for for hundreds of years. It wasn’t until the 1830’s where large Copper deposits were discovered at South Caradon Mine. This was the moment where mining was happening on both sides of Caradon Hill. South Caradon mine was worked between 1837 - 1885, and became the third largest Copper producer in Cornwall. Granite quarries were also opening amongst the Tin and Copper sites, making Caradon an extremely valuable location to Cornwall’s mining history. Many surroudning locations wanted to gain off of South Caradon’s success, and would adopt the name Caradon into their name in the hopes it would attract shareholders into investing into their mines.
The boom here lasted until the late 1890’s, with many of the mines closing due to the crash in prices and a lot of the ground being worked out. Today, the landscape is filled with industrial remains, marking as a memorial of what once was.