1-158-632 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

'Hayle St Ives in the distance', c1860. Scene on the West Cornwall Railway, later part of the Great Western Railway (GWR). The boom time for the harbour and effectively the birth of the town came in the first half of the 19th century when Hayle became synonymous with mining-related industries and, above all, Harveys. Harvey & Co. employed 1000 men and exported Cornish beam engines all over the world. Illustration after RT Pentreath for Views of Devonshire and Cornwall by Henry Besley. (Exeter, c1860).