Beam engine house at Ding Dong mines

The Ding Dong mines lie in an old and extensive mining area situated in the parish of Gulval, in Land's End, Cornwall. They are about 2 miles south of the St Just to Penzance road. They look out over Mount's Bay and St Michael's Mount to the south west.

Ding Dong obtained notoriety during the 18th century because of an infringement lawsuit. A 28 inch cylinder inverted engine designed by Edward Bull, chief designer for Boulton and Watt, was put into Ding Dong in 1796; James Watt saw this as an infringement of his ‘condenser patent’. One of these engines was erected at Ding Dong in 1797, when a conventional Boulton and Watt engine was inverted by Richard Trevithick and William West. Trevithick worked with his father at Wheal Treasury mine and, after making improvements which increased the operating pressure of the Bull Steam Engine, Trevithick was promoted to engineer of the Ding Dong mine in 1796.