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Summary

Part of the tinworking on Morwell Down, worked from the surface for tin from at least the 16th century. Later bought and worked by the Tavistock Canal Company (1806) as one of the mines in their portfolio. Earthworks of pits and subtle banks and hollows are visible on aerial photographs and visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2010.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX47SE/40

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• (Former Type) EXTRACTIVE PIT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1750 AD (Between))
• TIN MINE (Constructed, XVI - 1550 AD to 1599 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

The visible earthworks correspond with an area of rough ground.

Environment Agency, 2000-2019, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) EA: Tamar Aerial Survey project area, LIDAR Environment Agency LAST RETURN 17-JAN-2010 (Cartographic). SDV363954.

Earthworks of subtle banks and hollows are visible.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 2001-2002, Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme Transcriptions and Database Records, RAF/CPE/UK/2501/F20/4109-10 (Interpretation). SDV346287.

Transcriptions of small circular pits and an area of disturbed ground visible on aerial photographs RAF/CPE/UK/2501/F20/4109-10 correspond with a database record of a post-medieval extractive pits to the south of Morwelldown Plantation.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2016, Backlog Recording of the Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme Survey (Personal Comment). SDV359374.

Extractive Pit South of Morwelldown Plantation SX 4556 7118
Extractive pits of probable post-medieval date were visible on aerial photographs as earthworks to the south of Morwelldown Plantation. The aerial photograph reference given in the Tamar Valley NMP transcription attributes is incomplete; the date of the photograph is not included.

Waterhouse, R., 2017, The Tavistock Canal. Its History and Archaeology, 169-172, 182-186, figs 6.22-4, 6.35-6 (Monograph). SDV361789.

Holming Beam
This is a group of three interconnecting lodes, running parallel across the southern part of Morwell Down. Worked for tin from the surface from at least the 16th century (probably earlier); part of a large sett. Rights to this were bought by the Tavistock Canal Company with Wheal George and Charlotte in 1806. Probably included the copper mine later known as Wheal Russell which worked two lodes in the Tamar Valley to the west, and South Wheal Crebor which worked the eastward continuation of the Holming Beam lodes in the Tavy Valley to the east. Main period of working of this mine by the Company was between 1816-28.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2020-2021, Tamar/Lidar; A Single Source Approach to Landscape Survey and Socially Distanced Community Archaeology Area 1 (AI&M project) (Interpretation). SDV363945.

Earthworks of subtle banks and hollows which occupy an area of circa 0.68 hectares of south facing slope are visible on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2010.
The visible earthworks are not clearly defined on the available lidar imagery and so their approximate limits have been defined by an extent of area polygon.
The earthworks correspond with an area of rough ground on the late 19th-century First Edition Ordnance Survey map.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6911 - Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme
• EDV8013 - Survey of the Tavistock Canal Tunnel on Morwelldown
• EDV8345 - Tamar/Lidar; A Single Source Approach to Landscape Survey and Socially Distanced Community Archaeology Area 1 (AI&M) (Ref: ACD2380)

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