Poldark Mine

Poldark Mine was a tourist attraction near the town of Helston in Cornwall, England, UK. It lies within the Wendron Mining District of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. Its features include underground guided tours through ancient tin mine workings; a museum of industrial heritage, mining equipment and Cornish social history; and a scheduled ancient monument and riverside gardens. It opened in 1972 as Wendron Forge and was later known as Ha'penny Park. After an ancient tin mine was discovered on the site it was renamed after Winston Graham's Poldark novels and the BBC television series that was first broadcast in 1975. The mine was researched by A. K. Hamilton Jenkin, an authority on Cornish mining history, who attributed it to Wheal Roots which had been active in the 18th century. The original owner, Peter Young, sold Poldark Mine in 1988 following which it passed through two owners and declined in popularity. It went into administration for the second time in 2014, and in that year was bought by David Edwards who had been involved with the Ffestiniog Railway and the Llechwedd Slate Caverns in Wales. He said he hoped to keep Poldark Mine as an open-air museum and heritage centre. In September 2022, it was reported that the mine had been closed for three years due to Edwards failing to pay rent for the attractions' underground portions, which are owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.