See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

A tin mine which also operated under the name Hooten Wheals, worked on the site of earlier streamworking and openworks. A licence for a mine in this area was first granted in 1845 with further licences granted between 1849 and 1854. The mine was active again in the 1880s and by 1891 it employed fifty men. By 1896 the mine had ceased work and the lease was terminated. However, the mine re-opened under new management later that year and continued in used until its closure in 1919. Pumping of the levels continued until 1920 when a storm destroyed the pumping wheel aqueduct and caused the collapse of the main shaft, preventing any further work underground. Many of the buildings associated with the mine were destroyed by American troops rehearsing for D-Day during World War II. An archaeological field survey in 1996 identified mine shafts, adits, spoil heaps, wheelpits, dressing floors and building foundations.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthwork and walling remains of the early 19th century Henroost, Hooten Wheals/Hexworthy Tin Mine complex at Down Ridge, including ruined mine buildings, shafts, workings and tramway as well as extensive Skir Gut streamworks

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SE182
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1065007
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SE/13

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• TIN MINE (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1845 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))
• ADIT (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1880 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))
• BEAMWORK (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1880 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))
• BUDDLE (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1880 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))
• DRESSING FLOOR (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1880 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))
• MACHINE BED (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1880 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))
• MINE BUILDING (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1880 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))
• MINE SHAFT (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1880 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))
• SPOIL HEAP (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1880 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))
• STAMPING MILL (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1880 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))
• TRAMWAY (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1880 AD (Between) to 1919 AD (Between))

Full description

DNPA IN ARCHAEOLOGY IN DEVON, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV261478.

The wheelpit at hexworthy mine required maintenance, as the sides of the wheelpit were in danger of collapse. Pit has been shored up with timbers. Pit measures internally 15.2m by 2.3m. It once housed a waterwheel which powered both crushing machinery and pumping rods. Last used about 1920. Several photographs of it survive (dnpa in archaeology in devon).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV261486.

Dnpa/archaeology in devon (dcc. )/(1981)12.

Burnard, R., 1891, The Antiquity of Mining on Dartmoor (Article in Serial). SDV261492.

Worth, R. H., 1892, The Erme Yealm and Tory, 183 (Article in Serial). SDV261487.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

'Hooten Wheals Shaft' and 'Engine House' marked on the early 20th century (1906) historic map.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 4362-6364 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Ramsden, J. V., 1952, Notes on the Mines of Devonshire, 96, fig.1 (Article in Serial). SDV60737.

Dines, H. G., 1956, The Metalliferous Mining Region of South West England (Monograph). SDV62852.

Minchinton, W. E., 1976, Industrial Archaeology in Devon, 24 (Monograph). SDV7016.

Hooten Wheals/Hexworthy Tin Mine - shaft, opencast, etc. Hexworthy Mine was first worked opencast in the 1820's to 30's. It was re-opened in the late 1880's when shafts were sunk. In 1905 a generating plant using a water driven pelton wheel was set up near saddle bridge. Production ceased in 1916. Among the remains are ruins of buildings, wheel pits and leats, and the old dressing floors with circular buddles, and the base of the old stamps. The extracted ore was tin.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1981, Medieval Industry, 89 (Article in Serial). SDV275197.

At Hexworthy Mine at the end of the 19th century workings were found to extend to a depth of eleven fathoms. Prior to excavation the surface gully was no more than 2 - 3 fathoms (citing Worth).
Iron tools were found in underground workings at Hexworthy Mine in the late 19th century. This shows the existence of shafts possibly of post-medieval date (citing Burnard).

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

Mine buildings set within an area of openwork visible on 1946 aerial photograph. Another building visible at SX 6565 7084. The openwork extends from SX 6557 7077 to SX 6565 7049 in the shape of a cross. Cuts across another area of openwork.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1985, Steeperton Tor Tin Mine, Dartmoor, 118 (Article in Serial). SDV310154.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1986, Tin Mines and Miners of Dartmoor, A photographic record (Monograph). SDV351363.

Richardson, P. H. G., 1992, The Mines of Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley after 1913, 27-35 (Article in Serial). SDV323598.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(10/01/1996) Centred SX 65657085. A tin mine known as Hexworthy Mine or Hooten Wheals which was operating during the 19th and early 20th centuries, at the site of earlier streamworking and openworking (Monument HOB UID 1065005).
A licence for a mine called Wheal Unity, in the vicinity of Skir Gut and Henroost, was granted in 1845 with further licences being granted for tin mining in this area between 1849 and 1854 (Greeves 1986, 4). Activity is recorded again in the 1880s and by 1891 fifty men were employed at the mine (Burt et al 1984, 73). However, by 1896 the mine had again ceased work and the lease was terminated (Greeves 1986, 4). The mine re-opened under new management later that year and continued in service until 1919, when it again closed. Pumping of the levels continued until 1920 when a storm destroyed the pumping wheel aqueduct and caused the collapse of the main shaft, preventing any further work underground (Richardson 1992, 33). Much of the machinery, water wheels and other equipment was dismantled and removed between 1927 and 1938 and most of the buildings associated with the mine were destroyed by American troops rehearsing for D-Day during WWII (Richardson 1982, 33). The earliest plan of the 19th and 20th century features appear in the OS 1904 revision, 25 inch, 2nd edition map (Devon cvii. 15). Among recent published sources discussing the mine are Dines (1956), Hamilton Jenkin (1974), Greeves (1986) and Richardson (1992).
Underground activity at the mine is represented by Lows' Shaft at SX 65577080 and a blocked adit near the bottom of the openwork at SX 65577089. Water issues from within the adit and the area immediately outside is now boggy. Two additional shafts, one particularly large example to the south of the streamwork at SX 65627067 and one inside the Hooten Wheals openwork (Monument HOB UID 1065005) at SX 65587072 are also likely to be associated with this period of working. The main shaft was Lows's which although capped, survives as a conical pit of approximately 15.5m maximum diam. A masonry lined trench of 7m long by up to 1.2m wide and 1m deep, survives adjacent to the shaft and once housed the balance bob, part of the pumping equipment. Vestiges of the stone walling which lined the exit of the tramway, on the east side of the shaft are also visible.
East of the shaft are two finger shape, linear spoil heaps, centred SX 75607083, both approximately 55m long by 9m high. Their level tops once accommodated tramways, though no evidence of these now survives.
Running parallel with and at the foot of, the northernmost spoil heap is a straight, steep-side gully with a 'V' profile of approximately 3.5m wide by 3m deep. This channel housed the flatrods which transmitted power to the balance bob at Low's Shaft from a waterwheel sited at the foot of the hill at SX 65637088. The wheelpit which has collapsed badly, has been fenced off for safety reasons and is currently inaccessible. It measures approximately 10m by 2m. This waterwheel also powered the Taylor's Shaft pumps (Monument HOB UID 1065002) and evidence of a similar flatrod channel survives between SX 65507092 and SX 65417095.
To the west of Low's Shaft at SX 65557080 is the remains of a once substantial two-storey building, constructed in 1907 and which was photographed while still in use in 1914 (Greeves, 1986, 13). It once housed winding gear, blacksmith's shop, miner's dry, offices and accommodation. It was totally destroyed by American troops training during WWII and the remains now consist only of an approximately rectangular spread of rubble. Foundations and concrete bases for winding gear are still visible and the interior measurements of the structure are 14m by 6m.
The 1907 mill complex is sited on the tip of the spur at the confluence of Hooten Wheals Stream and O Brook at SX 65677084, thus maximising the available water supply to the mill. The back, west wall of the mill, consists of a stone and timber revetment though all other cover was formed from tin sheeting constructed over a timber frame, none of which survives. The dressing floor has three levels, covering a total area of 15m by 12m, the lower of which contains the concrete outer kerb of two circular buddles, each of 5.3m diameter. Two additional buddles, consisting now only of circular hollow earthworks of 0.3m deep, lie on the level area to the north-east of the main dressing floor. Also in this area is a rectangular, masonry lined pit of 6.6m by 3.5m. A small stone-lined wheelpit at SX 6567 7086, measuring 3.7m by 0.8m certainly housed the wheel which provided power for these buddles. A steep scarp defines the edge of the dressing floor, below which several linear channels directed the tin waste on the final section of its journey onto the large tailings heap at SX 65757087. This heap, although not entirely made up of tailings, contains masses of the fine, silvery sand known as tin slimes - the final waste product of tin dressing.
Also associated with the mine are a dressing floor at Dry Lake (Monument HOB UID 1064041) a tramway running between the main site and Dry Lake dressing floor (Monument HOB UID 1065010); and Taylor's Shaft at Henroost (Monument HOB UID 1065002); ancillary buildings (Monument HOB UID 1064999 and 1065000) and two leats (Monument HOB UID 1065008 and 1065042) for which see separate entries.

Cranstone, D. + Hedley, I., 1995, Monuments Protection Programme: The Tin Industry Step 3 Site Assessments, Devon 35b (Report - non-specific). SDV357946.

Documented.

Newman, P., 1996, Recording the Tinworks of Dartmoor Forest, 143-149 (Article in Serial). SDV337905.

Royal Commission (RCHME) survey of tinworking in the O Brook Valley includes openwork, streamwork and underground mine workings at Hooten Wheals Tin Mine and abundance of tinners huts.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.