Sam
7 Jul 2026
A new book has been published all about Geevor Tin Mine, told by those who worked there.
In July a new book was published, called “Geevor: Voices from a Mining Community”. The book is written by Geevor Tin Mine Museum operations manager, Jack Roberts, along with Ruth Allen, and compiles the stories of some of those who worked at the mine when it was operational.
Over the last several months, Jack, Ruth, and others have organised several open days and interviews with former employees, recording their interviews, collecting old photos and any written stories, and getting any information they could so it could be written down and preserved for future generations to recall. It is this information that is presented in the book.
The book tells the tales from these folk about what it was like to start working at the mine, what jobs they used to do, and the communities it forged. It also talks about the closure of Geevor, and the impacts that had on the workers and the community.
It is a wonderful book. It is not trying to be full of facts and figures and to provide a complete historical account of the mine – that type of literature is already out there. Instead, it is providing a living history of those individuals who worked in different areas of the mine, both above and below ground. It gives you an insight into the day in the life of a miner, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It allows us mere mortals to get a little bit of an understanding of what it must have been like.
It also paints a very clear picture of how central Geevor was to the local community. This isn’t just the financial gain (which in itself was pretty important), but also to what it meant to those who worked there and those related to those who worked there. It also emphasises how devastating it was when Geevor closed, eventually for good in 1990, and the impact that still has on people to this day.
On 7th July 2026 Geevor hosted a book launch in the Count House Café at Geevor. It was a fantastic evening, even slightly emotional. It was brilliant to see so many former employees at the event, being rightfully celebrated for the job they did. I might even have got a few autographs in my copy of the book as well!
A huge congratulations to all those involved in compiling the information to the book, and to Jack Roberts and Ruth Allen for putting it together. You can currently purchase the book from the Geevor Shop - https://geevor.com/whats-here/shop/
