More information : ST 00893453 & ST 00903445. Marks on APs. Nothing on ground (1)
These 'marks' fall within an area of the former Burrow Farm Iron Mine, and may be the result of mining activity. (2)
Despite no aerial photographic reference given by authority 1, the "marks on APs" are likely to be the earthwork remains of ironstone mining as suggested by authority 2. The earthworks, mainly shafts, were mapped from aerial photographs and extend from ST 0069 3454 to ST 0134 3429, with the main concentration near the engine house (see ST 03 SW 21). The shafts are in a linear pattern, aligned NW-SE, clearly following the ironstone seams, except for those at ST 0095 3443 which are aligned E-W and also have smaller scale workings. The mine was in operation between 1860 and 1883. A line of shafts to the north of the West Somerset Mineral Railway at ST 0087 3460 are assumed to be part of the same mining complex, as could isolated shafts to the east at ST 0140 3444. (3-6)
In a linear band some 50 m wide and 500 m long around the Burrow Farm mine Engine House are the remains of surface iron mining. The remains are visible on the ground as a swathe of disturbed ground. Their slightness may be due to deliberate infilling, and then subsequent agricultural improvements. The date of the mining is unclear, but it appears to predate the 19th century mining, and open working of this kind is generally associated with earlier iron working - they may be medieval or even earlier.
These remains were surveyed as part of a 1:1000 survey of the Burrow Farm mine complex carried out in Spring 1999 as part of RCHME's Exmoor Project; see also ST 03 SW 21. (7)
Recorded by NRIM. (8) |