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Summary

Medieval or later blowing house and possible stamping mill situated at the foot of a scarp adjacent to the Taw River below Belstone Tor. The building is rectangular in plan, measures 9.5 metres by 4.7 metres and is of drystone construction with walls up to 1.4 metres high. In the eastern area are two edge-set stones representing the site of the furnace. It has an internal waterwheel situated in the north-east corner. The headrace leat and tail race survive. The blowing house is one of only seven on Dartmoor known to survive. It may have also acted as a stamping mill.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019228: Taw River tin blowing mill, 840m south of Tawcroft

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX69SW95
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1342809
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX69SW/245
• Old SAM Ref: 28751

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BLOWING HOUSE (Built, Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• FURNACE (Built, Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• LEAT (Built, Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• STAMPING MILL (Built, Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• TAIL RACE (Built, Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• WHEEL PIT (Built, Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))

Full description

Greeves, T. + Robinson, R., 1985, Taw River Tin Blowing Mill (Plan - measured). SDV243634.

Site surveyed at 1:100 on 25th June 1985. Plans in possession of T. Greeves.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1989, Taw River Tin Blowing Mill (Report - Survey). SDV243635.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1990, An Assessment of Dartmoor Tinworking, 38 (Report - Assessment). SDV343684.

The mill consists of a drystone-built rectangular structure, with a small wheelpit for the stamps and furnace power in the north-east corner. The leat embankment can be traced behind the mill for 6 metres. The headweir must be at about SX61909158, and part of the leat channel from here to the mill can be seen. The tailrace leading back to the river is also visible. A possible mortarstone is visible. The presence of tin slag on this site demonstrates that it is a smelting site: parts of the furnace structure may survive. The level area to the north of the mill may have been the site of buddles.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 152180 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(09/03/1999) Taw River blowing mill, 850m south of Tawcroft. Surveyed at 1:100 plan in possession Greeves. Grass, bracken and patches of rushes. 12.8m long by 5.5m wide and 0.3m deep hollow to the south of the mill probably represents the site of a reservoir. Walls of building are up to 1.4m high and stand 6 to 7 courses high.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 209. Map 40 , Site '16' (Monograph). SDV219155.

Sited amongst the waste heaps on the west bank of the River Taw are the foundations of a building. Probably the 'knacking mill and blowing house' in action from at least 1521 to 1535. The lower walls still stand recessed at one end and with a flight of steps in the opposite corner ascending to the top of the bank above. The supply leat from the river is not clear but the short return north of the building is well preserved. Upstream waste mounds commence beyond the junction with Small Brook

Blick, C. R. (ed), 1991, Early metallurgical sites in Britain, 26 (Monograph). SDV243636.

Cranstone, D. + Hedley, I., 1995, Monuments Protection Programme: The Tin Industry Step 3 Site Assessments, Devon 28 (Report - non-specific). SDV357946.

A rectangular blowing house, one of only seven on Dartmoor to survive. It has an internal waterwheel situated in the northeast corner. The headrace leat and tail race survive. It possibly also acted as a stamping mill.

Viant, J., 2003, Belstone Walk 22nd March 2003, 2 (Article in Serial). SDV243640.

Historic England, 2023, National Heritage List for England, 1019228 (National Heritage List for England). SDV365228.

The monument includes a tin blowing mill situated at the foot of a steep scarp adjacent to the River Taw. The mill building is of drystone construction with the wall standing up to 1.4 metres high. The interior of the mill measures 9.5 metres by up to 4.7 metres and access to it was through a clearly defined doorway in the north western corner. Within the eastern part of the mill, two edge set stones represent the site of the furnace, in which the black tin (cassiterite) was smelted. A recess in the eastern wall denotes the position of the wheelpit in which a wheel powered by water from the nearby leat operated the furnace bellows. The leat can be traced to a small reservoir measuring 12.8 metres long by 5.5 metreswide and up to 0.3 metres deep situated on top of the scarp immediately south of the mill. The water from the wheelpit was carried to the river in a tailrace which survives as a clearly defined channel denoted on both sides by substantial banks. To the west of the tailrace a level area represents the site of a dressing floor. At the northern end of the dressing floor is a horseshoe shaped hollow which may represent the site of a buddle or similar piece of apparatus. In the area immediately east of the mill fragments of tin slag have been recovered in the past.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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