Wheal Frances is a village in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It is located in the civil parish of Perranzabuloe

Perranzabuloe

Perranzabuloe is a coastal civil parish and a hamlet in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The hamlet is situated just over a mile south of the principal settlement of the parish, Perranporth; the hamlet is also seven miles south-southwest of Newquay...

.

Geography

To the north is the hamlet of Carnkief, after which Carnkief Pond, a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

 is named. This SSSI is noted for its biological

Flora and fauna of Cornwall

Cornwall is the county that forms the tip of the southwestern peninsula of England; this area has a mild and warm climate regulated by the Gulf Stream...

 interest, including 12 species of dragonfly

Dragonfly

A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...

.

Wheal Frances Mine

The village was noted for the South Wheal Frances Mine of which many ruins remain. Mining began in the local area in the early 1720's. After Lady Frances Bassett, the mineral Lord, offered a new lease on the land in 1834 it resumed production and experiences a golden period for ore production was the 1850’s. By the early 20th century, several thousand men, women and children worked in the mine.
A 75-inch cylinder pumping engine house with a was built at Marriott's shaft in 1847 and pumped water from Pascoe's shaft as well as Marriott's. In 1857 a 24-inch winder was installed in close proximity. Between 1896 and 1899 a major refurbishment of the shaft was undertaken, enabling mining to take places as far down as 6,000 feet. Due to a slump in tin prices during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

it ceased operations in 1918.