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Summary

Area of tin streaming and spoil heaps along Bledge Brook (Blatchford Bottom) from SX63506380 1.6 kilometres north-west and also extending 500 metres south-west from the same point. This site is included in the local list of Nationally Important Dartmoor sites.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthwork and structural remains of prehistoric hut circle settlements at Blatchford Bottom, as well as extensive area of medieval or later tin streamworks along the Bledge Brook and the River Erme

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SW/231
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• STREAMWORKS (Constructed, Early Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 4279 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

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

Area of tin streaming and spoil heaps extending north-west from SX63506380 to SX62536490 (Blatchford Bottom). There is another area of heaps extending south-west from SX63506380 to a mine at SX63206330.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 65-67. 79-81, Map 54 & 55 (Monograph). SDV337765.

Area of tinner's mounds depicted on Butler's maps.

Gerrard, S., 1996, The Early South-Western Tin Industry: An Archaeological View, 67-83 (Article in Serial). SDV337901.

GetMapping, 1999 - 2000, Millennium Map 1999-2000 Getmapping (Aerial Photograph). SDV321648.

Area of stream works visible on the aerial photography - digitised area is approximate.

Gerrard, S., 2004, List of Sites Remaining to be Considered for Designation on Dartmoor (Un-published). SDV345444.

This site was considered for designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument during the Monument Protection Programme. The programme ended before the entire list of sites was successfully scheduled so this is included on a local list of Nationally Important Sites.

Newman, P., 2018, Erme Valley Survey data (GIS and Excel spreadsheet) (Cartographic). SDV361913.

Tin streamworking shown on survey.

Newman, P., 2018, The Upper Erme Valley, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: An Archaeological Survey, Appendix 1 (Report - Survey). SDV362921.

13 hectares of tin streamworking remains follow the course of the Bledge Brook, a western tributary of the River Erme. The remains are spread along both sides of the tributary, forming a sinuous working area of over 1 kilometre long but only up to 80 metres wide and rising 125 metres over its entire length between 330 and 455 metres above OD. The limits of the working are defined by a steep escarpment up to 3 metres high in places. The interior working area contains remains of low, partly turf-covered spoil heaps, pits and silted channels, some of which have been reinforced by low, stone revetments. An extension of the tinwork branches to the south for 330 metres towards Stall Moor. This area is also marked by well-defined scarps, but the interior is today very marshy. Although this site is undocumented, Dartmoor’s stream tin resources were most commonly exploited in the medieval and/or post-medieval period. A ruined tinners’ building survives built into the waste heaps near the upper end of the working (MDV102720).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8082 - Survey of the Upper Erme Valley

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.