Ponsanooth

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In the 18th and 19th Century this village had a lot of water mills because of the near by Carnon River. They were texile mills, flor mills, paper mills and also of gunpower mills. at the beginning of the 19th Century five powder manufactories were established in the county. Two of these lay in the vicinity of Ponsanooth. The manufacture of the powder continued in the area until the end of the 19th Century but by 1890 all the mines were using dynamite. Granite quarries continued to use powder because dynamite shattered the stone too much, but there was a depression in the granite industry round about 1900 (due to imports of Norwegian granite). These factors considerably reduced the demand for gunpowder and brought an end to a local industry. Along side the gunpowder indutry there were also charcoal mills supplying ground charcoal to the powder mills; also a salt-petre refinery and a cooper's shop making barrels for the powder.