CROSSING THE RIVER LYD AT WHEAL MARY EMMA TIN MINE WORKINGS

Steve Grigg and Frank Collinson

This post is a comparison of a River Lyd crossing point next to Wheal Mary Emma workings, 100 years apart. The circa 1920 image shows a footbridge with a figure on it. The 2020 (September) picture is taken from (more or less the same location, on the side of a spoil tip). The final image is a “combined” picture, which (I hope) neatly shows the same rock in the river and the spoil tip on the far bank as points of reference. You may be able to make out Widgery Cross on Brat (Bray) Tor in both images. The cross was erected by William Widgery to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, so was well established at the same time the footbridge was being used.