Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape

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Statement of Outstanding Universal Value

This was approved in 2010 by the World Heritage Committee in Brasilia.

Brief synthesis

The landscapes of Cornwall and west Devon were radically reshaped during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by deep mining for predominantly copper and tin. The remains of mines, engines houses, smallholdings, ports, harbours, canals, railways, tramroads, and industries allied to mining, along with new towns and villages reflect an extended period of industrial expansion and prolific innovation. Together these are testimony, in an inter-linked and highly legible way, to the sophistication and success of early, large-scale, industrialised non-ferrous hard-rock mining. The technology and infrastructure developed at Cornish and west Devon mines enabled these to dominate copper, tin and later arsenic production worldwide, and to greatly influence nineteenth century mining practice internationally.

The extensive Site comprises the most authentic and historically important components of the Cornwall and west Devon mining landscape dating principally from 1700 to 1914, the period during which the most significant industrial and social impacts occurred. The ten areas of the Site together form a unified, coherent cultural landscape and share a common identity as part of the overall exploitation of metalliferous minerals here from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. Copper and tin particularly were required in increasing quantities at this time through the growing needs of British industry and commerce. Copper was used to protect the hulls of ocean-going timber ships, for domestic ware, and as a major constituent of important alloys such as brass and, with tin, bronze. The usage of tin was also increasing greatly through the requirements of the tin plate industry, for use in the canning of foods and in communications.

The substantial remains within the Site are a prominent reminder of the contribution Cornwall and west Devon made to the Industrial Revolution in Britain and to the fundamental influence the area asserted on the development of mining globally. Innovative Cornish technology embodied in high-pressure steam engines and other mining equipment was exported around the world, concurrent with the movement of mineworkers migrating to live and work in mining communities based in many instances on Cornish traditions. The transfer of mining technology and related culture led to a replication of readily discernable landscapes overseas, and numerous migrant-descended communities prosper around the globe as confirmation of the scale of this influence.

Criterion (ii): The development of industrialised mining in Cornwall and west Devon between 1700 and 1914, and particularly the innovative use of the high-pressure steam beam engine, led to the evolution of an industrialised society manifest in the transformation of the landscape through the creation of smallholdings, railways, canals, docks and ports, and the creation or remodelling of towns and villages. Together these had a profound impact on the growth of industrialisation in the United Kingdom, and consequently on industrialised mining around the world.

Criterion (iii): The extent and scope of the remains of copper and tin mining, and the associated transformation of the urban and rural landscapes presents a vivid and legible testimony to the success of Cornish and west Devon industrialised mining when the area dominated the world's output of copper, tin and arsenic.

Criterion (iv): The mining landscape of Cornwall and west Devon, and particularly its characteristic engine houses and beam engines as a technological ensemble in a landscape, reflect the substantial contribution the area made to the Industrial Revolution and formative changes in mining practices around the world.

Integrity (2010)

The areas enclosed within the property satisfactorily reflect the way prosperity derived from mining transformed the landscape both in urban and rural areas, and encapsulates the extent of those changes. Some of the mining landscapes and towns within the property are within development zones and may be vulnerable to the possibility of incompatible development.

Authenticity (2010)

The property as a whole has high authenticity in terms of form, design and materials and, in general, the location and setting of the surviving features. The mines, engine houses, associated buildings and other features have either been consolidated or await work. In the villages and towns there has been some loss of architectural detail, particularly in the terraced housing, but it is considered that this is reversible. The ability of features within the property to continue to express its Outstanding Universal Value may be reduced, however, if developments were to be permitted without sufficient regard to their historic character as constituent parts of the Site. The spatial arrangements of areas such as Hayle Harbour and the settings of Redruth and Camborne are of particular concern and these may be vulnerable unless planning policies and guidance are rigorously and consistently applied.

Protection and management requirements (2010)

The UK Government protects World Heritage Sites within its territory in two ways. Firstly individual buildings, monuments, gardens and landscapes are designated under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 and the 1979 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act, and secondly through the UK Spatial Planning system under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

National guidance on protecting the Historic Environment (Planning Policy Statement 5) and World Heritage (Circular 07/09) and accompanying explanatory guidance has been published by Government. Policies to protect, promote, conserve and enhance World Heritage Sites, their settings and buffer zones can be found in regional plans and in local authority plans and frameworks. The World Heritage Committee accepted that the Site is adequately protected through the general provisions of the UK planning system.

A detailed and comprehensive management plan has been created which stresses the need for an integrated and holistic management of this large, multi-area and diverse Site. The main strength of the plan is the effective network of local authority and other stakeholders that underpins it. The co-ordination of management of the property lies with the Site office for the property. Service-level agreements with other departments within Cornwall Council's Historic Environment department ensure the effective delivery of planning advice, and Sites and Monuments record keeping.

The Strategic Actions for 2005-2010 in the management plan have been in part completed, and the development of risk assessments and a monitoring system are underway utilising data capture systems being introduced by Cornwall Council. The production of detailed definitions of Outstanding Universal Value for specific landscapes within the Site will also be pursued to aid the delivery of planning advice.

World Heritage Site inscribed by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in 2006.