Richard Pryor shares a little-known story passed down through word of mouth about the copper mines in the Perranporth and St Agnes area during the lead-up to the Second World War.
In the years before the war, local miners discovered that the copper ore they were extracting was being exported to Germany—a country rapidly building its military strength. Outraged by the idea that their labour might be fuelling a future enemy, the miners took matters into their own hands.
Rather than continue to contribute to what they saw as a dangerous trade, they began secretly tipping the ore off the cliffs, destroying it before it could be shipped abroad. It was a silent rebellion—unofficial, unrecorded, and entirely organised by word of mouth to avoid detection.
The situation became so tense that additional police were brought down from Wales in an attempt to maintain control and prevent further sabotage. But the miners remained resolute. Richard recounts how he’s spoken to two people who remember it happening—how cartloads of valuable ore were deliberately thrown into the sea to stop it falling into the wrong hands.
This powerful act of quiet resistance, unrecorded in official histories, captures the moral courage of ordinary people making extraordinary decisions in a time of global uncertainty.
