MORE than 2,000 visitors enjoyed a family fun day at Morwellham Quay. Families from all over Devon and Cornwall enjoyed train rides into the mine, horse and cart rides, and guided walks around the historic site. The event also marked both the start of phase two of the Tamar Valley Mining Heritage Project and Archaeology Week. Robert Waterhouse, Morwellham?s archaeologist, said: ?This excavation is intended to expose the whole of the approach cutting and the portal of a railway tunnel, which carried the inclined plane of the Devon Great Consols Mine Railway under a timber yard ? now the village green ? and the cottages behind it.? An enthusiastic team of volunteers helped to uncover the railway, built in 1857-58, to carry copper ore from the mine down to Morwellham Quay, from where it was shipped to South Wales for smelting. Robert was impressed by the young team of children and said they were great to work with. ?It looks as if we have some budding young archaeologists for the future,? he said.
