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Summary

The site of a former tin mine lies at the foot of the southern flank of Standon Down. The remains consist of an open adit, spoil heap and line of tin pits. A possible processing area lies unexamined in enclosed land to the south.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX58SE63
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1147657
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX58SE/42
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX58SE/61

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ADIT (Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• EXTRACTIVE PIT (Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• MINE (Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• SPOIL HEAP (Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))

Full description

ROBERTS, CITING TOLL, Untitled Source (Report - Survey). SDV215307.

Vis=estimated -/-/1980 (roberts) surface remains today include adit, leat, line of tramway, a deep shaft. Toll says that this mine was worked circa 1925 for tin (roberts, citing toll).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV215311.

Roberts, p. /pmmcj/12 no 2(1981)12/in parish file.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV215312.

Toll, r. W. /mining magazine/-(september 1951)-.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV215313.

Des=worksheet(greeves,1983). (26/08/1983 (greeves) open adit, spoilheap, eight pits visible. Oral inf from a. Reed of okehampton (in 1969) states that mine worked 1925 - 1932 for a radioactive mineral. There used to be some miners huts by the river.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV215314.

Des=wmn/(12/8/1969).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV215315.

Richardson, p. H. G. /british mining/44(1992)129/mines of dartmoor and the tamar valley after 1913. Standon hill/baggator mine. In 1925 alluvial material was being washed out by a monitor (water jet) using water from a nearby leat (richardson).

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1995, 4379 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224714.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Line of trial pits cutting across the contours on south slope of Standon Hill beside 'disused level', marked on Ordnance Survey 1951 map.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 108, Map 32 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Depicted by Butler who reports that the mine was worked as recently as 1925.

Probert, S. + Fletcher, M. + Newman, P., 1998, Willsworthy Training Area, Peter Tavy, Devon: An Archaeological survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (Report - Survey). SDV350638.

(05/08/1998) Centred SX 55178101. The site of an unnamed mine lies at the foot of the S flank of Standon Hill 500m NW of South Common Plantation. The mine consists of an open adit 1.1m high and 2.0m wide fronted by a pair of decayed wooden posts. The approach to the adit, cut into the steep S-facing slope, is revetted by well-built coursed boulder walls 1.3m high. Material from the adit was removed via the revetted track and deposited in front in the form of a substantial finger dump surviving up to 4.0m high. The length of the adit was not tested but it appears to be clear for at least 10m. A narrow channel fronted by a small spoil heap lies immediately N of the adit though on a slightly different alignment. This is probably the site of a second or exploratory adit. Ascending the hillside from just above the main adit mouth is a line of well defined tin pits which follow the lode N for 120m before ending on the clitter strewn hillside. The pits are relatively large, with diameters in the range of 4.0 to 8.0m and are around 1.0m deep.
There is no trace of processing activity on the open moorland of Standon Hill but several, unexamined, earthworks are visible in the pasture field immediately S of the mine entrance. A dry leat channel formerly rising on the right bank of the Baggator Brook feeds this area via a conduit in the finger dump.
The mine was presumably worked for tin though the SMR suggests that radioactive material may also have been extracted.

Probert, S., 2001, Willsworthy Training Area, Peter Tavy, Devon. Integrated Land Management Plan Implementation: Archaeological Condition Baseline Survey Appendices 2-5 (Report - Survey). SDV357727.

(15/02/2001) This site remains as described in 1998.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7368 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area, Peter Tavy (1998)
• EDV6663 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area
• EDV6664 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area
• EDV6665 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area
• EDV8141 - Condition survey of the Willsworthy Training Area

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