VISITORS to Tavistock on Friday were able to learn all about the area’s mining heritage on board a special promotional bus in Bedford Square as part of the run up to the tenth anniversary of the West Devon and Cornish Mining World Heritage Site (WHS) designation.

The bus included information and stories about miners and the mining history of West Devon and Cornwall and its links with the rest of the world and greeted many passersby before moving off on the rest of its tour.

In July 2006, the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. This year marks the tenth anniversary of this achievement and the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site Partnership has commissioned an exciting summer-long set of inspirational events. The key event will see the touring of the largest mechanical puppet ever constructed in Britain, called the Man Engine, launch a two-week tour of the World Heritage Site from Tavistock on July 25.

The Man Engine is currently under construction and will crawl along roads at 4.5-metres high before transforming into a standing puppet at over 10-metres high. The first time it will ever be seen by the public is when it launches from Tavistock.

Will Coleman, of Cornwall’s Golden Tree Productions and who was bringing history to life on board the mining bus, said: ‘For me, this is about a whole new generation of people who don’t understand our link to mining. This is about educating people — we need people who know about our mining heritage, who care about it and will look after it in the future. Mining has not just changed our local landscape — it has changed the world. And Tavistock was absolutely pivotal to the story. People in Tavistock might not necessarily know about its mining link so we’re trying to increase awareness through this programme.’

John Taylor, chairman of the Tavistock Townscape Heritage Initiative, said: ‘We are so lucky that this fantastic tenth anniversary event is being launched in Tavistock and we fully support the WHS and thank them for starting here.

‘One of our purposes is to increase awareness of the Guildhall Gateway Centre project which, with the Heritage Lottery Grant, will transform the building into a town centre hub and the eastern gateway to the World Heritage Site. I think it’s very exciting.’

Devon County Councillor for Tavistock and West Devon Borough Councillor for Tavistock South East Debo Sellis, said: ‘I fully endorse this event, it’s really important for our future generations to know about their roots and I wish them good luck with it.’