Perched above the Atlantic Ocean, the lower pumping house was built in 1835 to pump water from the mine and the upper winding house,
Pearce's, in 1862. The latter powered the Boscawen Diagonal Shaft, which ran out a total of 1,360 feet under the sea. Men were
carried up and down the shaft in a gig, a purpose-built, wheeled box, which was also used to raise ore. The Duke and Duchess
of Cornwall rode the gig during their visit in July 1865, two years after a terrible accident, caused by the gig-chain
breaking, in which eight miners and a boy were killed.

These engine houses were closed in 1914 due to the decline in tin prices but were preserved in 1984 by the Carn Brea Mining Society
with the help of many individuals and authorities as a tribute to past generations of Cornish miners. They are the most
well known of the mining relics in Cornwall.