Kittows Mine Shaft and Adit - Caradon Hill - Bodmin Moor Narration by Kathy the AI Robot Kathy's favourite word : 'enthusiast' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inland Drone Footage (Intro): Plymouth Caving Group - PCG --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coastal Drone Footage (Intro): Chris Webber Photography https://www.chriswebberphotography.co.uk/aerial-imaging --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Man Engine animation: By BergbauKunstAnimation.gif: Paul Lenzderivative work: Smalljim (talk) - BergbauKunstAnimation.gif, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6798097 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Man Engine photograph: By John Charles Burrow (1852—1918) - From: mines and miners, or, Underground scenes by flash-light : a series of photographs, with explanatory letterpress, illustrating methods of working in Cornish mines. OCLC 16854040. Scan by uploader from reproduction in The Cornish Mining Industry ISBN 0-85025-334-9, page 28., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12247111 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music: Ooyy - HAYAT (Shortened and Spliced) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Unnarrated Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhnbfUC1i1k&t=313s --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Local Mine Enthusiast Dig Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhhLZJY451k&t=8s --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Narration text: If you are in Cornwall and go for a wander around the South side of Caradon Hill on Bodmin Moor, you may happen upon a rather scruffy pair of old Mine Shafts known as Kittows. This point is the most easterly part of the old abandoned South Caradon Copper Mine, lying close to the boundary of East Caradon Mine. This extensive mine with its many shafts was established by Captain James Clymo and his sons and the Kittow family after copper was discovered in 1833. The mine was run until the 1890s. The pioneering industrial developments, innovations and techniques used in this area were hugely important to the Industrial Revolution and exported all over the world. Many of the miners emigrated overseas after the mines closed. Kittows is a historical set of remains, for this is the location of the last man engine installed in Cornwall. A man engine is a mechanism of reciprocating ladders and stationary platforms to assist miners' to and from working levels below. It was invented in Germany in the 19th century and was a prominent feature of tin and copper mines in Cornwall until the beginning of the twentieth century. The two shafts quickly join below ground then open up into a large chamber. A number of decades ago, this heritage site, as were many others, was used as a dumping ground for Industrial electrical cable and old cars. These all remain in the chamber today slowly rotting away. Chunks of flaking granite occasionally peel from the chamber wall and roof, combining to slowly bury the decaying rust pile. The loose hanging scrap metal around the shaft entrances is particularly uninviting and deters most sensible mine explorers from abseiling into the chamber below. The chamber contains an adit high up on the wall which resurfaces on the moor further downhill. Mine exploration enthusiasts made their way into the Chamber in the 1980's via this adit but it has long since collapsed half way along and has remained blocked and forgotten for many years. A number of enthusiasts accessed the chamber via the adit a few years ago before it collapsed again. Recently, a popular local mine exploration enthusiast re-enabled a project to dig through the collapse again - looking to recreate a connection from the adit into the chamber. Inside the chamber, there is also a shaft known as 'North Shaft' that descends from the floor. This shaft is also full of discarded metal - judging by the resounding sound of rocks thrown down there.