Welcome to The Tamar Union Tin Smelting Works

The former Tamar Union Tin Smelting Works, a historic industrial site that played a vital role in the tin industry of Cornwall and Devon.  Built in 1849 the reverberatory tin smelting works complex included an attached Count House  to the North, with clerical and assay offices upstairs and secure storage for the cast tin ingots on the ground floor.   Attached to the  south side of the smelting works was the ore store and manager's accommodation ( locally known now as the Jam Factory).

The works operated between 1849 to  1896. After which, The Tamar Union Tin Smelting Works was used for various purposes. Following the first world war, the smelting works was used to manufacture jam from local produce using the original tin smelting vats! Hence one  converted building is now known locally as 'The Jam Factory' . 

Located at Weir Quay in the Tamar Valley, an area renowned for its rich mining heritage, the works processed and smelted the tin ore extracted from local mines into pure tin ingots. This process was essential for the region’s economy during the height of the mining boom in the 18th and 19th centuries.  Weir Quay  ( or Ware Quay) was in its heyday a bustling port of call for large sailing vessels, collecting soft fruits and flowers from the productive Bere Peninsula to the markets in Plymouth and London and delivering coal and ore for the smelting works and 'night soil' from Plymouth to fertilise the local land!