Category: Articles

  • West Beam Calciner

    West Beam Calciner

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    by

    Pat Watson
    in , ,

    Photo 1: This photo shows the well constructed opening at the end of the calciner adjoining the cottage which was used for retrieving the burnt ore which would have been raked out from an opening to the left not now intact. Behind the substantial lintel is the separate sump referred to in the text. Above…

  • The Condition Of Mines In Great Britain

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    by

    Helen Wilson
    in ,

    Minutes Of Evidence Taken Before The Commission Appointed To Inquire Into The Condition Of Mines In Great Britain Ashburton Thursday 28th May 1863 Mr William Hosking Examined QUESTION: ANSWER: Of what mine have you charge? West Beam. How many men are employed there? About 160 are employed underground and on the surface. About how many…

  • Tinners on Dartmoor

    Tinners on Dartmoor

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    by

    Murray Oates
    in

    Above are photos show examples of: various tinners’ remains, including “streamworks”, “openworks”, “lodeback workings”. Associated with streamworks are buildings called “tinners’ huts” (also called “lodges”). To crush the ore “stamps” were used. The stamps smashed the tin ore on “mortar” stones, creating a fine ore powder. This was processed, in “buddles”, to separate off the…

  • Bal Mine

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    by

    Anne Whitbourn
    in ,

    The Dartmoor Tinworking Research Group (DTRG) were asked to survey an area south-east of Norsworthy Bridge at the eastern end of Burrator Reservoir by Southwest Lakes Trust (SWLT). The area is close to the car-park and includes a wheelpit, launder embankment, leat, stream work and many other features. Surveying an area to the south-east, that…

  • Stormsdown Mine

    Stormsdown Mine

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    by

    Stephen Holley
    in ,

    Stormsdown is at the head of Owlacombe a tributary valley of the the Langworthy Brook, which itself is a tributary of the River Lemon. The geology consists of shales, grits and chert otherwise known as killas by the miners. The mines are in the metamorphic aurole zone that surrounds the igneous mass and the lodes…

  • A Napoleonic Venture in the Newleycombe Valley

    A Napoleonic Venture in the Newleycombe Valley

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    by

    Tom Greeves
    in , ,

    The Newleycombe Valley, extending more or less west-east from Burrator Reservoir to the Devonport Leat tunnel below Nuns Cross, has some of the most extensive and ancient evidence of tinworking to be found on Dartmoor. At its upper end there is a confluence of two streams, one descending from the north-east from Older Bridge and…