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Summary

Remains of a post medieval stamping mill which served Bachelor's Hall Mine. An archaeological field survey in 1989 located it on a fairly steep slope in a woodland above a fast-flowing stream. The working floor, cut into the slope, measured 18.6 metres by 11 metres with a coursed drystone retaining wall up to 1.4m high on the uphill side. No features were visible on the level marshy stance but on the south side there is a partly dismantled but still well-defined wheel pit measuring 6 metres by 1.4 metres wide and is 1.2 metres. The source of the water to power the wheel is either the leat high on the hillside above (Monument HOB UID 619423) or possibly the leat which now terminates near Bachelors Hall (Monument HOB 620435). The high leat powered water-wheels in the Bachelors Hall Tin Mine Complex and the run-off water was apparently channelled to the stream by a straight cutting.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthwork and walling remains of the late 18th century Bachelor's Hall Tin Mine, Princetown, including remains of a stamping mill and smelting house, leats, stamping floor and a dam

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SE266
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 620463
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SW/95

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• STAMPING MILL (Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• WHEEL PIT (Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))

Full description

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV234216.

Greeves, t. A. P. /historical notes on bachelors hall mine, and survey drawing/(1980)/typescript in parish file. Vis=-/10/1980 (greeves) a stamping mill identified here. This probably relates to bachelors hall mine. The first lease for work at bachelors hall was granted in 1795, and work seems to have ended in the 1870s (greeves).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV234219.

Des=greeves, t. /dartmoor magazine/49(winter 1997)6-8/tin stamping mills of dartmoor after ad 1750.

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

Not visible.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(24/04/1989) SX 60167345. A stamping mill situated on a fairly steep slope in a woodland above a fast-flowing stream. The working floor, cut into the slope, is about 18.6m by 11.0m with a coursed drystone retaining wall up to 1.4m high on the uphill side. No features are visible on the level marshy stance but on the S side there is a partly dismantled but still well-defined wheel pit. It is about 6.0m long, 1.4m wide and 1.2m deep and is constructed of granite boulders; no bearing stones are traceable. To the W of an adjacent track are the remains of a launder bank, an earthen mound about 2.9m long, a maximum 1.0m wide with a slight channel along the top. A short narrow dry channel which extends from the bank westwards to merge with a series of cuttings and drainage channels. A well-defined channel leads from the bottom of the wheel-pit to the stream.
The source of the water to power the wheel is either the leat high on the hillside above (Monument HOB UID 619423) or possibly the leat which now abruptly terminates near Bachelors Hall (Monument HOB 620435). The high leat powered water-wheels in the Bachelors Hall Tin Mine Complex and the run-off water was apparently channelled to the stream by a straight cutting. The tithe map (1939) depicts a short angular branch from the channel to the graphically illustrated wheel-pit. This branch can be reinstated on the ground in the present drainage pattern but the water would have had to be very effectively baffled. The lower leat now ends at a hedge at 378m OD. (SX 60057360) it may once however have continued more or less along this contour, a course now occupied by a metalled track, to the launder bank.
The mill stance and wheel-pit are depicted but not described on the Ordnance Survey 25 inch map dated 1951.

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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