The derelict Wheal Coates mine stands atop cliffs at St Agnes Head on Cornwall's rugged Atlantic coastline. It produced 717 tonnes of tin and 335 tonnes of copper between 1802 and and 1913.

Its most notable features are the ruins of the Towanroath engine house, which dates from 1872, and the remains of two other buildings that housed steam-powered engines used in the mining of tin and copper. The Victorian machinery was used to pump water out of the mine shaft 600 feet below that ran out under the sea bed, and also to hoist the tin ore to the surface for crushing, from where it was shipped on for smelting.