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Summary

A 19th century tin ore treatment works. It is situated on a moderate, south-facing slope, in a depression at the head of a small stream in Brimpts Outer Newtake. The plant was concerned with the crushing and dressing of tin ore from Brimpts Worth Mine 350 metres to the north. The mine is recorded as working between 1851 and 1855 but it probably started a little earlier. Between 1852 and 1855 it was held successively by the Duke of Cornwall Consolidated Tin Mines, and the Devon Tin Mines, which were wound up in 1855.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021049: Brimpts Mine, three prehistoric settlements and associated reaves 550m north west of Outer Huccaby Ring

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SW143
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 619651
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SE/455
• Old SAM Ref: 34461(PART)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BUDDLE (Constructed, XIX - 1801 AD (Between) to 1855 AD (Between))
• TIN WORKS (Constructed, XIX - 1801 AD (Between) to 1855 AD (Between))

Full description

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV261937.

Des=survey drawing(1984)/in parish file. Vis=5/4/1984 (greeves + robinson) a survey drawn of the area of brimpts mine. A wheelpit, stamps area, dressing floor with buddles, leats and underground channels were identified. A slate (?sluice) from one of the outflow channels is in plymouth museum (greeves + robinson).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV261938.

Nmr=sx67se143.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV261943.

Des=bird, r. + hirst, p. /dtrg newsletter/8(jan 1995)8-11/the brimpts tin mines.

Hamilton Jenkin, Dr. A. K., 1974, Mines of Devon. Volume 1: The Southern Area, 95-7 (Monograph). SDV336694.

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

(11/08/1988) A C19th tin ore treatment works, situated on a moderate, S-facing slope in a depression at the head of a small stream in Brimpts Outer Newtake. The plant was concerned with the crushing and dressing of tin ore from Brimpts Worth Mine (SX 67 NE 63) 350m to the N. The mine is recorded as working between 1851 and 1855 but it probably started a little earlier. Between 1852 and 1855 it was held successively by the Duke of Cornwall Consolidated Tin Mines, and the Devon Tin Mines, which were wound up in 1855 (Hamilton Jenkin, 1974, 95-97).
The plant consists of:-
(A) A track 2.5m wide, slightly raised, with a faint ditch on both sides. It can be traced for 170m N towards the North Mine and probably was used to bring ore for treatment. It crosses the Brimpts Mine Leat by way of a bridge of granite slabs and leads into a 2m high ramp of revetted spoil above (B).
(B) The stamps area. A level space c.6m square occupying the N arm of an L-shaped structure. The stamps were driven by a waterwheel just to the E, and six head of stamps are recorded here in 1855 (Hamilton Jenkin, 1974).
(C) Wheelpit. A fine structure of large, dressed granite blocks and slabs, now largely rubble-filled and only 1.2m deep. It is 7.7m long (25-26 ft) - tying in with 24 and 25 ft wheels recorded in the early 1850s (Hamilton Jenkin, 1974) - and 1.5 - 1.7m (4.92 -5.58 ft) wide. A large bearing
stone can be seen in the rubble of the S end. The wheel is probably also that which drained the North Mine by way of "nearly 200 fathoms of flat rods" connected to pumps (Hamilton Jenkin, 1974). It is almost exactly 200 fathoms (365m) from wheelpit to mineshaft today.
(D) Launder pier. 9m N of the wheel is a roughly-revetted stone pier 7m long, 2.5m wide and 1m high. This would have supported a wooden launder carrying water from the Brimpts Mine Leat to the wheel. Its position indicated an overshot wheel.
(E) Dressing floor: the 5 part of the L-shaped structure. It occupies an area of 16m x 6.5m with revetment walls 0.6m high on the N and W. These are of four courses of small dressed blocks to the edges of the terraced-in platform. The interior is partly divided by two partition walls 1m wide but only 1.6m long, springing from the N wall and apparently truncated. There is a small recessed chamber in the W wall 3.5m square. The extant walling probably supported a semi-permanent superstructure and may have been open to the S. The floor area appears very pitted and disturbed. Greeves reports underground channels and buddles, devices for separating ore from waste, in this position (Greeves and Robinson plan).
(F) A large, rectangular building measuring 15 x 8.5m internally. Like (E) it has a terraced-in floor, the sides cut into the slope and revetted with identical masonry now 0.8m high. There are signs of a S wall but it is badly disturbed. No internal features remain, but it too probably housed dressing devices.
(G) A silted, rectangular pit 3.3 x 2.8m and 0.4m deep.
(H) A silted, rectangular pit, 7.9 x 4.2m and 0.4m deep.
(J) A silted, rectangular pit, 3.2 x 2.6m and 0.3m deep.
These are possibly tailings pits for catching the smallest tin particles at the end of the dressing process.
(K) A large heap of waste material 32m x 12m and 1.6m high.
(L) A deep outflow channel or tail race from the wheel. At maximum 4m wide and 1.2m deep, it does not appear to be lined or revetted.
(M) Two small prospecting pits cut into the hillside. Each is c.2.5m across and 0.5m deep.
(N) 35m N of the wheelpit, a narrow channel 0.6m wide and 0.3m deep runs for 90m N towards the North Mine. It is aligned directly into the wheelpit. Although probably only a modern drainage gulley, it could perhaps have supported the flatrods going to the pumps, it carried pumped-out water from the mine for use at the treatment works.
The awkward and unorthodox relationship of the works to the Brimpts Mine Leat makes it clear that the works were built after the construction of the leat, which originally served the South Mine (SX 67 SE 148). (See SX 67 SE 19 illus card).

Bird, R. + Hirst, P., 1996, Brimpts Tin Mines, B2 (Worksheet). SDV222442.

Bird, R. + Hirst, P., 1996, The Brimpts Tin Mines Dartmeet (Monograph). SDV222443.

Brimpts North Mine. See also SX67NE/159 for North Mine and SX67SE/14 for South Mine. North Mine and its mill were started in 1850 by the Brimpts Tin Mining Company. When this failed in 1852, a new company, the Duke of Cornwall Consolidated Tin Mining Company, was formed but appears not to have been successful and a third company, the Devon Tin Mines took over at the beginning of 1853. Most of the features of the later mining relate to this latter company. It developed the mine (and also the workings adjacent to Brimpts Farm) but failed in 1855 and mining ceased.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1997, Tin Stamping Mills of Dartmoor after AD 1750, 6-8 (Article in Serial). SDV346020.

Ancient Monuments, 2003, Scheduled Monument notification (Schedule Document). SDV218307.

(08/09/2003) Remains of a stamping mill and dressing floors. Scheduled.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8634 - Brimpts Farm, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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