At the heart of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site are four Cornish beam engines, recalling one of the earliest applications in the world of steam power to industry and Cornwall’s days as a centre of industry, engineering, and innovation. These were donated to the National Trust by the Cornish Engines Preservation Society in 1967. Two of the beam engines, preserved in towering engine houses, were originally powered by high-pressure steam boilers introduced by Richard Trevithick (1771–1833) whose cottage at Penponds, occupied by him between 1810 and 1815, was also given to the National Trust at the same time. The copy of John Linnell’s 1816 portrait of Trevithick (the original of which was given by Trevithick’s widow in 1858 to the Patent Office Museum, since incorporated into the Science Museum, in exchange for this copy in oils), and the two original portraits of his wife, are on loan from the Trevithick Society.