Deborah Boden, Cornish Mining World Heritage Site Co-ordinator
What Is a World Heritage Site?
UNESCO’s Convention concerning the Protection of World
Cultural and Natural Heritage, 1972
“cultural and natural heritage around the world
considered to be of outstanding value to humanity”
Cornish Mining WHS Outstanding Universal Value Why World Heritage?
Extraordinary suite of minerals
Principal producer of tin and copper
Revolution in steam & mining technology
World-wide transfer of technology, culture
and its impacts
Extraordinary suite of minerals
• over 400 species
•115 type specimens
Eg discovery of Botallackite [Cu2Cl(OH)3],
Botallack Mine, West Penwith, 1865
BY 1840 THE REGION WAS PRODUCING OVER HALF OF THE WORLD’S COPPER AND UNTIL THE 1870s
WAS THE WORLD’S MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCER OF TIN
Principal producer of tin and copper
Alloys for machine parts
1810 first tin plated cans
1780 - HMS Victory’s hull below
the waterline was sheathed with
3,923 sheets of copper to protect
her against ship worm.
Engineering Innovation
Driven by need to solve 3 key problems;
• Depth – eg Dolcoath William’s shaft 3000 feet by 1917, New
Cook’s at South Crofty over 3,000 feet
• Water – improving pumping technology
• Hard rock – removing huge quantities of ground
Improvements in beam
engine efficiency
Enabled mining at greater
depths
Technological step changes - Trevithick’s high pressure steam goes
“mobile”
First Steam railway locomotive 1804
World’s first steam road locomotive 1801
Associated industries - Harvey’s and Perran Foundries – the biggest
steam pumping engines ever produced
The 144 inch cylinder for the Cruquius Pumping engine, Haarlemmermeer
William Bickford Smith invented the safety fuse 1831
World wide transfer - currently 175 international sites identified
with Cornish connection
World-wide replication of the Cornish Mining Landscape
Australia
Ireland
Spain
Wales
Mexico
South Africa
New Zealand
Virgin Gorda
Transfer of cultural traditions
The cultural landscape - 7 landscape components
Mine Sites
Wheal Coates
Transport
Morwellham Quay
Luxulyan Valley viaduct
Associated Industries
Bickford Smith’s Fuseworks,
Camborne –global centre of
safety fuse manufacture
Harvey’s Foundry, Hayle –
manufacturers of the world’s
largest steam engine cyclinders
Settlements
&
Social Infrastructure
Gwennap Pit
St Agnes
Miners & Mechanics Institute
Great Houses
&
Gardens
Godolphin House
Trevarno Garden
Miner’s Smallholdings
Miners’ Smallholdings
Across 10 areas
19,800 hectares,
= multiple ownership
and management interests
So how can we use the status
to support tourism ?
UNESCO’s aims for World Heritage
Required = Preservation of OUV:
• Protection
• Conservation
Encouraged = Social benefit
• Public awareness
• Local community participation
• International co-operation –
including cultural tourism
Caring for the Asset Management Plan 2005-2010
The Vision
“We believe that by protecting,
conserving and enhancing the
Outstanding Universal Value of the
Cornwall and West Devon Mining
Landscape it will reinforce cultural
distinctiveness, and become a
significant driver for economic
regeneration and social inclusion.”
World Heritage Convention obligations
• Protection – strategic planning policy, statutory protection
• Conservation and enhancement – heritage led regeneration,
sustainable development,
• Presentation– physical and intellectual access, interpretation,
education, tourism and socio-economic outputs
• “Transmit” - Outreach and community involvement, celebrating
cultural distinctiveness, and international exchange
UNESCO’s other core obligations for World Heritage
Protect, Conserve and enhance, and transmit
Also relate to tourism
Conservation and heritage led regeneration aims to improve the overall
environment, which is as much a part of the tourist’s experience as the
conserved mine site. As are local communities…
Cornish Mining World Heritage tourism – an holistic approach
WHS tourism incorporates the preservation, enhancement and presentation
of the wider mining legacy of
▪“natural” landscapes
▪ built environments
▪ cultural traditions
It is the combination of all of these that creates the tourism product that the
visitor and residents experience.
Cornish Mining World Heritage Destination Marketing
key factors:
• A Sense of Place – a unique conserved environment
• Cultural distinctiveness – stories about people and their experiences
• Global significance – an international family sharing this experience
Conservation investment in the WHS
Capital projects completed 1998 – 2003:
£22,960,000
Capital projects in progress or recently completed:
Mineral Tramways Project
East Cornwall Regeneration
Geevor Mine
Tamar Valley Mining Heritage Project
Caradon Hill Heritage Project
Heartlands, Pool
£6,000,000
£2,200,000
£3,500,000
£5,000,000
£2,000,000
£35,000,000
£53,700,000
Total Capital projects 1998 – 2010:
All creating tourism infrastructure…
£70,660,000
Presentation and Marketing
Economic Issues
• Multiple venues/ attractions (30+)
• Viability
• Quality
• Sustainability
• Public awareness/ perception
Initiatives
WHS Marketing Strategy approach
= a new destination “offer”
Interpretation Framework – Co-ordinating attractions & clusters
3 “Key Centres”
10 Area Centres
and related infrastructure
Linked to the core product - world class landscape destination…
Building a tourism destination Branding
Brand Values – the WHS principles, or what we
are about:
• Innovation
• Entrepreneurship
• Authenticity & cultural distinctiveness
• Sustaining (the environment and economy)
• Partnership
• Broadening horizons internationally
Building “brand”- WHS hoardings at Paddington Station, Platform 8
Building “brand” - WHS display
hoardings at Paddington
Station
£30k Objective One funding via
Cornwall Arts Marketing
32 million footfall
Brand communication
“Mine & Yours”
Campaign
£38k
WHS Activity
Guide
Events & PR
3.6m media
exposure
£270,000
PR value
“Mine and Yours” events programme
Cornish Mining Attractions Marketing Association
= Brand quality assurance
Trademarked logo
Brand Identity
Guidelines
Authorised use in
line with WHS
principles
Latest UNESCO World Heritage logo
Brand Awareness
Tourism industry familiarisation
events - ensuring local businesses
understand the offer
Local audiences
Education
WHS Learning Strategy
Create capacity & raise funds to;
• develop materials
• offer training (sites and schools)
• lead exemplar projects
Community Outreach
Portreath
Tramway
Bicentenary
2009
Helping
people
celebrate
their heritage
Outreach - Cultural Events
• Celebrate - increase appreciation
& awareness
• Interpret - increase understanding
of OUV
• Propagate - encourage contemporary
work that responds to cultural inheritance
Outreach – cultural
events
• Telling stories
• Supporting cultural
traditions
Raising profile
Telling authentic stories
Supporting cultural traditions
Supporting Cornwall’s creative economy –
for every £1 invested by WHS, £4 generated
in external and earned income. In total over
£400,000 income raised in last 5 years
These activities created intellectual and cultural capital to demonstrate to
the Regional Development Agency the potential WHS destination offer;
“Our mining culture shaped your world” - a brand identity campaign, which
articulates the characteristics and values of the WHS
An interpretation strategy which defines the “story of Cornish Mining”
Conservation works and improvements to access and visitor facilities at WHS
Key Sites and at several ‘ungated’ sites, such as the Mineral Tramways network
The Cornish Mining Attractions Marketing Association (CMAMA), a quality
assurance and networking organisation of 18 members, which is pursuing WHS
marketing strategy goals
Collaborative projects with local tourism accommodation associations and tour
guides to ensure awareness of and access to the opportunities presented by
WHS status
Discover the Extraordinary – £2.4m EU investment, consolidating the new
destination offer in an integrated programme over 3+ years (2010-2013),
linking;
• product improvement (interpretation strategy aims, orientation & facilities)
• training & tourism industry engagement – local businesses
• promotional campaigns
Targeted at out of region visitor markets, using new technologies
Cornish Mining website
www.cornishmining.org.uk