Basic Site Facts
Date of Designation: 5 April 2007
Location: Little Ganinick, Isles of Scilly
Year Of Sinking: late 19th century
Assessment in 2006 confirmed that this discrete cargo mound consists of components of mining equipment; the majority of which appear to have been intended for use as pumping equipment. Following discussions with several mining historians, it is thought that the cargo represents a consignment from a Cornish foundry and is likely to date from 1850 onwards. No ship structure has been identified.
The expansion of the mining industry was one of the most significant periods in the history of Cornwall, resulting in massive migration and the spread of Cornish culture throughout the world during the 19th century.
The cargo is of national significance given its rarity and the information it may shed on the international trade in Cornish mining equipment and technology. The inscription of the Cornish mining landscapes as a World Heritage Site lends even greater weight to any surviving unaltered evidence of mining machinery from this period. The site is therefore a very rare find of mining equipment, lost during transshipment in this historic period of major migration.
