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Summary

This group of eight cottages is a fine example, very rare on Dartmoor, of industrial housing specifically built for tin miners. Built between 1872-3, they were originally inhabited by workers employed at Whiteworks Mine.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57SE/152

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WORKERS COTTAGE (XIX - 1872 AD to 1873 AD)

Full description

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV239745.

Des=greeves, t. /note in parish file. Vis=-/10/1980(Greeves) a group of eight cottages made of 'concrete bricks' at princetown. These were built around 1872 by the directors of whiteworks tin mine for occupation by miners. They were sold by the company shortly afterwards.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV239746.

Brooking-rowe, j. /tda/37(1905)474/sir Thomas Tyrwhitt and princetown. New london later became four residences for prison warders and their families (brooking-rowe).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV239747.

Des=greeves, t. /an assessment of Dartmoor tin working/(1990)36/in smr.

Devon County Council Planning Department, 1980, Application numbers 3/40/1374/80, 3/40/1416/1980, 3/40/1429/80 (Planning Application). SDV239742.

New London Cottages, Princetown. Historical Notes.
This group of eight cottages is a fine example, very rare on Dartmoor, of industrial housing specifically built for tin miners. The history of the cottages is relatively well documented in Duchy records.
In January 1872 it was stated that the cottages were to be erected, for use by tin miners at Whiteworks Mine, from designs and specifications prepared by the Cottage Improvement Society. It was proposed that 'Concrete bricks' should be used in their construction.
The cottages were actually built sometime between this date and June 1873 when it was reported that the directors of Whitworks Mine had decided to offer for sale the eight cottage recently erected at Princetown.
In March 1878 it was reported that the Whiteworks Company had spent approximately £1600 on the New London property.
Apart from the fine row of cottages at Whiteworks Mine itself (SX6112 7092) which were being built in May 1871, the New London cottages are the only surviving examples of purpose-built miners' dwellings still inhabited in a moorland environment on Dartmoor. All other examples, which are very few, are either in ruins (e.g.: Golden Dagger, Foxhole) or uninhabited (e.g.: Bagtor Mine).
Every effort should be made to preserve both the New London and the Whiteworks cottages intact and with a minimum of alteration, as they are of considerable historical and educational value.
The name 'New London' is said to have been attached to the cottages by a local farmer, as a joke (citing the Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 1905, page 474).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8628 - Tor Royal Farm Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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