High on the hill slope SE of the village of Carnkie is the engine house (centre), stamps foundations (in front of the house) and then the Frue Vanner House (further left). Over to the right is the separate stack that once served the engine house boilers.
The house was erected in 1868 and is unusual in that it contained two separate 30-inch rotative engines built side by side. The engine initially drove 48 heads of stamps, but by 1895 this number had increased to 96 heads - arranged in a line either side of the house.
In front of the house can be seen the well preserved remains of the vanner house built in 1908, which contained shaking tables known as 'Frue Vanners' that were used to separate heavier black tin particles from lighter waste in the crushed ore. The concrete work on the engine house and in front of it dates from 1938 when ore dressing equipment was installed to reprocess the waste burrows nearby. The house was used as an ore bin and in front Californian stamps stood where previously the engine's crankshafts and flywheels had been.
The mine stack and small square building centre top is thought to have belonged to an arsenic calciner, but there is no longer any sign of an associated labyrinth collector flue.
Uploaded by malcolm osman on 14 October 2018
Photo ID: 217267
Building ID: 101142616
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