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Summary

An alignment of shallow pits, a shaft, and a large mound on the northern lower slope of Gutter Tor represent attempts to extract tin at this location.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE320
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1408401
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/455

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• EXTRACTIVE PIT (Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• MINE SHAFT (Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• TINNERS HUT (Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))

Full description

National Monuments Record, 1976, SX5767 (Aerial Photograph). SDV231145.

Aph=nmr sx5767/3/242(31/5/1978).

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

Group of trial pits visible on the 1978 aerial photograph.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

Probert, S., 2005, Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV363484.

(16/02/2005) Centred SX 57806719. Tin pits, shafts and tinners building on the north flank of Gutter Tor.
A crude north to south line of shafts and smaller tin pits commence immediately south of the scout hut car park and run south to the lower flank of Gutter Tor. The pits are generally small, in the range 3.5m to 5m in diameter and rarely more than 1.0m deep while the shafts measure up to 10.5m in diameter and remain a maximum of 2.8m deep. All possess spoil on their downslope, north sides. A small rectangular building lies at SX 57796713. It measures 4.3m north to south by 2.8m internally with coursed boulder walls 0.8m wide and a maximum of 0.6m high. An entrance 1.0m wide lies in the west side. There are no obvious internal features.

Probert, S. A. J., 2010, A Condition Survey of the Archaeological Sites of Ringmoor, Dartmoor Training Area (Report - Survey). SDV360517.

Newman, P., 2018, Archaeological Sites within Ringmoor Training Area, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: A condition survey on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation (Report - Survey). SDV361636.

Newman, P., 2022, Ringmoor Down Premier Archaeological Landscape Dartmoor National Park, Devon. A new survey, Table 1 (Report - Survey). SDV365490.

Shafts pits and gullies north of Gutter Tor. SX 57800 67141. An alignment of shallow pits, a shaft, and a large mound on the northern lower slope of Gutter Tor represent attempts to extract tin at this location. The largest mound is slightly ovoid measuring 26m along its long axis and is the surface expression of underground mining activity, probably in the 18th to 19th centuries. The conical remains of the shaft, has a diameter of 12m and a crescentic collar of spoil on the west side. The smaller pits are the remains of prospecting trials. A small rectangular building is sited to the west of the southern of the two shafts. It has internal dimensions of 4.3m by 2.8m with coursed boulder walls 0.8m wide and a maximum of 0.6m high. An entrance 1.0m wide lies in the west side (See existing HER entries for parts of this site outside the project area).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7443 - Condition survey of archaeological sites in Ringmoor Training Area
• EDV7569 - Condition survey of Ringmoor Down training area
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey: EH Project (Feb 2001 - Dec 2002)
• EDV8227 - Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV8917 - Survey of the archaeological features on Ringmoor Down

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