Towanroath Pumping Engine House

It's such an iconic ruin that it adorns the covers of many Cornwall guide books and framing it would amount to overkill! (But I appreciate the compliment, Chris, thank you!)
Before the invention of the steam engine, pumping water out of mines was a dodgy, difficult, or simply impossible affair which restricted the potential of nearly all mines. When the new technology was applied to pumping, it enabled the exploration of new, deeper mines and hence the potential profitably led to as explosion of tin mining on Cornwall from the mid 18th century onwards.