Converted tin mine’s owners to gain from Poldark effect
THE owners of a home converted from a 19th century tin and copper mine engine house are hoping to cash-in on the “Poldark effect”.
Tregurtha Downs, near Marazion in Cornwall, is now a house that, its owners believe, will appeal to fans of the BBC period drama.
The Grade II listed building, which was in use as an engine house from 1883 to 1902, stood derelict for eight decades before it was renovated.
On the lower floors is a two-bedroom flat with a separate entrance, and the main residence has two bedrooms plus a mezzanine bedroom.
Its most impressive feature is a topfloor vaulted sitting room 40ft above the ground, which has a balcony with views of the Cornish countryside.
The building once housed an 80-inch beam pumping engine which drew water out of the mine shafts. In the late 19th century, the engine house would only have had one floor at the top of the engine where a worker operated the systems. The entrance to the mine is still visible underneath the door.
The engine that once operated in the building was the last Cornish engine to work on a Cornish mine. After Tregurtha Downs closed in 1903, it was moved to another mine and finally stopped working in 1955. It is now a tourist attraction run by the Heartlands Trust.
The Tregurtha Downs engine house is on the market as a single property at £685,000 with Stags estate agents.