In a mine name, “Consols” usually means consolidated: workings or mining interests brought together under a combined undertaking. It is a clue to business organisation, rather than a mineral or a type of engine.
That is why Cornwall has several different Consols. Fowey Consols was associated with Joseph Thomas Treffry’s copper interests in eastern Cornwall. Perran Consols belonged to the tin workings north of Perranporth. Newquay Consols was a separate operation in the Fistral landscape.
Each needs its own map and history. When an article names one of those mines, follow the full mine name to that entry; use this explanation when the word itself needs unpacking.
Sources
Cornish Mining World Heritage Site — mining glossary, CONSOLS: https://www.cornishmining.org.uk/about/mining-in-cornwall-and-west-devon/mining-processes/glossary Friends of Luxulyan Valley — history, Stephen Austin: https://www.luxulyanvalley.co.uk/the-valley/history/ Northern Mine Research Society — Perran Consols: https://nmrs.org.uk/mine_directory/perran-consols-mine/ Northern Mine Research Society — Newquay Consols: https://nmrs.org.uk/mine_directory/newquay-consols-mine/
Connected subjects
Read on
- Joseph Thomas Treffry: The Man Who Joined Cornwall’s Businesses Together
Most of us, faced with an awkward delivery, complain about the delivery company. Joseph Thomas Treffry’s approach was rather more expensive. He became involved in mines, harbours, waterways and tramways.
- Before the Beach: Perranporth Was a Mining Town
The car-park name remembers a copper mine. A carpenter’s workshop, a chapel commission and changing mineral fortunes help put people back into the town around it.
- What Is Still Under Fistral Golf Course?
Newquay Golf Links looks like open ground. Archaeology, aerial photography and old maps suggest it is anything but: prehistoric enclosures, possible settlement, old mine shafts and a buried landscape beneath the turf…