Ten former mining sites in Devon and Cornwall have been given World Heritage status by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, following a submission by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on behalf of the Cornish Mining World Heritage bid team.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell announced the news saying: “I am delighted that the World Heritage Committee has recognised the outstanding universal value of the Cornwall and West Devon mining landscape and its important contribution to national and international industrialisation.

“This historic area and its people have significantly influenced the development of mining and engineering culture not just in the UK, but across the rest of the world.”

The Cornwall and West Devon mining landscape covers 19,808 hectares (48,946 acres) and consists of the sites where there has been exceptional survival of physical remains dating from 1700 to 1914.

Nick Johnson, Cornish Mining World Heritage Site Bid manager, said: “175 locations worldwide have known Cornish mining connections; in America, Australia, Mexico and Spain, substantial mining landscapes survive.”

The mines, in places such as Camborne and St Agnes, supplied much of the world’s tin and copper over the last 4,000 years and in the 19th century produced two thirds of all the copper in the world.

There are now 27 World Heritage sites in the UK, including the Tower of London, Kew Gardens and Stonehenge. Details: www.cornish-mining.org.uk