Ding Dong Mine house, 1958

The engine house on Greenburrow Shaft (80fm) built in 1865 for the 40 pumping engine brought here from Ding Dong Shaft further east. Much speculation surrounds the origin of the name Ding Dong.

Thanks for that; one question I have had arise recently is just why fathoms are used to describe depths of shaft?

I hadn t given it a thought; I ll see what I can find out.

I only know that this was the location used in the book Killer Mine by Hammond Innes.

I gather Ding Dong was in operation in 1815, having been worked long before that.

Ding Dong mine is in an old mining area in the Lands End granite mass about 2 miles north of the St Just to Penzance road. The name Ding Dong is of uncertain root. One suggestion by Cannon Jennings in his book on the history of Madron, Morvah and Penzance is that name refers to ‘head of the lode’ or the outcrop of tin on the hill. In Madron church there is a ‘Ding Dong Bell’ that was rung to mark the end of the last shift of the miners

That s interesting ... was it the only mine to have used a bell in that way? I rather imagined shifts were marked by whistles/hooter or a clanger.

In 1220, the mine was known as Dindods. It seems, then, that Ding Dong was a later fanciful alliteration.

I've seen it as Dindods before, but the origin / meaning of the name would appear to be shrouded in mystery. In volume 2 of their excellent series Exploring Cornish Mines Brown and Acton refer to a suggestion in Canon Jennings' 1936 Notes on the history of Madron, Morvah and Penzance that Ding Dong may have meant head of the lode , referring to an outcrop of tin on the hill'

Problem is that we do not actually know from which language it has originated. Nor do we know in which way it was formed. It certainly was not Ding Dong, that is clear.