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Summary

Foundation remains of a building which once served as the mine office at Birch Tor and Vitifer Tin Mine; documented between 1790 up to the period before World War One. It is constructed from mortared stone and has two main compartments and a lean-to structure on the rear east side. Remains of a front door porch are visible on the west side. The overall dimensions of the main structure are 13.5 metres by 5.3 metres.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021340: Tinworks, field systems, settlements, warren, cairns and a stone alignment at Headland Warren

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SE370
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1345258
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/66/2

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• OFFICE (Built, XVIII to World War I - 1790 AD (Between) to 1914 AD (Between))

Full description

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

Irregular shaped building shown on 19th century map.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Building shown on early 20th century map.

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs, 149/4314 (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Photograph taken on 11th March 1948.

National Monuments Record, 1977, SX6880, 3-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDV281707.

Photograph taken on 14th April 1977.

National Monuments Record, 1979, SF1508, 41 (Aerial Photograph). SDV346563.

Photograph taken on 24th April 1979.

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

Buildings and walled enclosures associated with Birch Tor and Vitifer Mines are visible amongst openworks below Birch Tor.

Griffith, F. M., 1985, DAP/EM, 12 (Aerial Photograph). SDV274678.

Photograph taken on 17th March 1985.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1986, Tin Mines and Miners of Dartmoor, A photographic record (Monograph). SDV351363.

'The mine office where accounts were kept and the men paid their wages'.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 22-25, Map 24, Figure 24.5 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Site '7' at 'Birch Tor and Vitifer Mines' were the mining offices.

Newman, P., 2001, Headland Warren Part 2: Medieval Settlement and Enclosures (Report - Survey). SDV360131.

(Visited 27/07/2001) SX 6826 8098. Foundation remains of a building which once served as the mine office at Birch Tor and Vitifer Tin Mine; documented between 1790 up to the period before World War One. It is constructed from mortared stone and has two main compartments and a lean-to structure on the rear east side. Remains of a front door porch are visible on the west side. The overall dimensions of the main structure are 13.5 metres by 5.3 metres. The stub walls are surrounded by fallen masonry on the interior and exterior and the remains are now covered by turf and bracken. A photograph of the building when still in use in c.1912 has been published by Greeves (1986).

Whitbourne, A., 2001, Visit to Vitifer and Birch Tor Mines, 3-4 (Article in Serial). SDV305962.

Complex of ruined mine buildings included the base of a small chimney.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7139 - Headland Warren and the Birch Tor and Vitifer Mines Survey (Ref: A1/20/2001, A1/34/2002)

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