Underground in Wheal Ellen, Exploring A Rarely Visited Cornish Copper mine.

[@gregphillips.1312]

This is why I love you going down these old Mines! 😂😂😉🙏

[@glyn829]

Brilliant that Ben 👍

[@BenoCam]

No problem glad you enjoyed

[@helimed01]

Great to see the footprints from the distant past.

[@stuartpillar7117]

I will be tracing your steps... And thank you for the safety tips!!! Many thanks!!

[@kerrylmatthews]

Those boot prints are incredible!

[@rabs26]

I visited wheal ellen a few years back great vid keep up the work u deserve 1 million subs

[@BenoCam]

Ha many thanks

[@JonAdcock-w3y]

The colours!!! Great videos, thanks for posting!! 👏👏👏👍

[@anon6366]

Enjoyed the fast forward drop down the shaft! Great vid. Who'd have thought there would still be the miners' boot prints down there so many years later?

[@filtonkingswood]

Nice one that... looked all business, you blokes don't hang about. Liked the safety warning at the end.

[@toy815]

I visited this today, shame it's totally flooded, good to see what's underneath, not sure anyone will be able to go under again, guessing one of the tunnels has collapsed.

[@BenoCam]

It’s very often underwater over winter or after times of high rainfall. And it’s pretty much been passing it down since November !! Go back in July/august and you should find it’s explorable again … (summer weather depending 😮) you want several weeks with no rain for it all to drain away

[@kernow..exp.]

Another great video Ben if I had a pound for every time I've been passed that shaft I be a rich man

[@BenoCam]

Ha ha. You been down this one ? It’s not too deep

[@kernow..exp.]

We're not used to srt yet mate we've been practising as you may know

[@InTheEyesOfSmiler]

On my list of mines to visit for sure. Great video.

[@InTheEyesOfSmiler]

Ticked off the list this evening. But a trip no.2 needed as didn’t see all the stuff in video due to time.

[@halcyondaystunes]

Only discovered your gem of a channel a few days ago and binged all your videos. Cornwall is my fave county and I have always been fascinated by the mining industry there from when I was a kid on holiday back in the 80s...So your videos are fantastic...my only gripe would be they are too short...I want more 😆 Thanks for providing these rare glimpses into these fascinating places mate. Something I'd love to do but it scares me so better that someone else does it instead 😁

[@BenoCam]

Haha watch all the videos .... poor you ! Many thanks for your comments though very kind of you. Don’t think we have ever been referred to as a gem of a Chanel before ! 😮 I try to keep them under 10 minutes as most people get bored and switch off else . A few more good ones planned when we have time !

[@shorey66]

@@BenoCam definitely a gem of a channel. I've loved these old mines ever since going down Poldark as a lad. These videos are a great way to experience the workings without having to grow a large enough set of balls to explore then myself. Keep them coming. And mega respect for what you guys do.

[@TheNorthernTsar]

Incredible work with a good Can-do attitude & great Sense’o humor!! I’m vicariously exploring these old Cornish tin & copper mines with You’n your crew. Enjoy that hot pasty after this jaunt!

[@BenoCam]

Haha cheers.

[@UKAbandonedMineExplores]

Ooh, clay Talley, got to be incredibly rare. Nicely stacked deads on that platform. Love finding boot marks, some in our next video somebody put rocks around. 'Time for a pasty lol'. Developed for Cornish miners and still be used by mine explorers now :)

[@BenoCam]

There’s a beauty clay tally in the one I uploaded called Wheal Fortune mine, that one still had the matchsticks in too. Only seen 3 now it total though. The boot marks are quite impressive sadly some day someone will probably walk right through them 🤣 should take a warning sign down next time really. Hopefully this video might prepare a few people for it if they are planning on a trip ! We always love a pasty 💗

[@aaronteifel9441]

exellent nice video , only good thing on youtube hopefully one day i can absail these big shafts i only do small ones at the moment being a novice

[@royfellows5468]

Hi Ben. I like your presentation. No 'click bait' nonsense in the title description, a good account of the mines history, and good quality video..

[@BenoCam]

Cheers Roy that’s very nice of you. It’s even better coming from you as I know you are quite a legend in the mine exploring world ! Will get some more put together when I have a chance. 🙂

[@royfellows5468]

@@BenoCam I have just subscribed to your channel.

[@Carolb66]

Very interesting artifacts left behind in this mine, do you ever take anything in case museums might be interested didplaying them? Also Ben do you take gas detectors down the mines with you? Im assuming you do, from the very few video's ive seen ive never heard any go off. ❤😊

[@BenoCam]

Hiya Carol . We did take a gas detector on a lot of the trips but it never seemed to go off very often and in most of these mines you can feel the draught or ventilation. Typically metal mines are usually ok for air, unlike coal mines which are very dangerous after they have been abandoned for some time which is one of the reasons they are often well sealed then they are abandoned

[@martynwatson4929]

It's amazing there's so much dry ground to explore, I had a look at the engine shaft in front of the engine house which they're in the process of capping and the water is up to the brim.

[@LindaTCornwall]

That bottle looks like an old Victorian ginger beer bottle I have lol... It has a tall neck like a wine bottle. :D Crazy to think that the miners that left those footprints have been long long dead.. They look as if they were made yesterday!

[@BenoCam]

No rain or wind or anything else to wash them away. Just have to be really careful you don’t step on them !

[@shonkytours2039]

Brilliant video as always Ben. 👍 That mine looks amazing, love the timbering😍

[@BenoCam]

Cheers, just a bit of fun really. It’s hard fitting it all in with work and family but we do what we can 🙂

[@shonkytours2039]

@@BenoCam tell me about it, I try and go underground to make one video a week, plus work on top, and that's without the avelanche of other explorers who get in touch, wanting me to take them to this mine or that mine. I'm too polite to say no I'm busy (and also i only need slightest excuse to go underground)Even if I've been to the same mine dozens of times 😩😂😂

[@alastairmiller7838]

Great video Ben, really enjoyed that one. Wearing a helmet like that it looked like you were channeling your inner John Duffy, albeit the wrong colour.

[@BenoCam]

🤣 think I would have to be a bit more shouty for that !

[@alastairmiller7838]

@@BenoCam ha, yeah you’re probably right. 👍👍

[@rosstaynton693]

Please tell me you went to St Agnes Bakery for a pasty... if not, make sure you do next time and ask for Ross the Baker for your free traditional cornish pasty 😉..... P.s Great videos.... only been to a couple that you have visited by foot but just so grateful to have even experienced them... safe exploring 👍

[@jakesgreatadventures]

There was one point where I was going to buy the engine house but never did in the end

[@modelheaven5471]

Noticed in another vid of yours, you have a Lynx AH.7 in your yard, would you allow a visit to photograph it?

[@BenoCam]

Yeah no problem. I have acquired a few bits of military kit 🤣 Abbot self propelled gun, lynx and a willies jeep 🙂

[@lordbelvoir2543]

Brilliant post .....few years back while walking on the cliffs at Perranporth Airfield I noticed red oxide staining in the sea at the bottom of the cliffs.....curiosity got the better of me so I made my way down to the bottom corner of the cliffs and found the adit/sough to which the iron oxide was coming from....it was pretty easy to get into...spent a couple of hours walking but it just went on and on so I turned around and headed back as I didn't fancy the cliff in the dark.......just wondered if you've any clue to the mine this might have belonged to

[@BenoCam]

Yeah that cligga head mine ! Search for it on here, there’s plenty of videos of it. I have never made one yet of it as it’s pretty dangerous and didn’t want to feel partly responsible for someone’s death who goes in without the right kit 🤣

[@lordbelvoir2543]

@@BenoCam thanks for that mate.... Don't worry I nipped back and got me gear... Always used to take it with me... Used to mainly the lead/copper mines of Derbyshire😉

[@DFDuck55]

That clay tally was something I hadn't seen before. Pretty cool. Here in America the stacked rock is called gobbing, which I understand is not that nice of a term in British speak.

[@BenoCam]

One of the videos I did a while back of “wheal fortune “ had a clay tally still complete with match stick markers which was pretty cool. Seen a few about now, sometimes next to manways for counting men in and out other times on shaft stations for hauling ore for counting them. Gobbing here is what it’s called if you spit on the floor it’s nothing too bad.

[@bigfarmerUK]

Thanks for the video Ben, have shared this video link with local Facebook group, and getting lots of response. I was wondering if that old map showing the the Wheal Ellen mines is publicly available on the web?

[@BenoCam]

I found it on one of the mining forums , it was a while ago and I can’t remember which one but I can send you the copy I saved if you want it ? Careful sharing the videos not everyone approves. If your not careful the self appointed “mine police” will be upset that you are sharing me showing people the way in. 🤣