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Summary

A substantial wheelpit and an adjacent dressing floor north-east of Deadlake Foot. The wheelpit comprises two parallel walls of coursed boulders and blocks and measures a maximum of 2 metres high. The space between the walls, formerly occupied by the waterwheel, measures 8.0 metres north-west to south-east by 2.1 metres and is partially infilled with rubble. Immediately to the north and at a slight angle to the wheelpit is the dressing floor, a levelled platform measuring 6.1 metres north-south by 3.1 metres, enclosed on three sides by coursed boulder revetments and open to the west.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX58SE51
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1064705
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX58SE/29

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• DRESSING FLOOR (Constructed, XIX - 1801 AD (Between) to 1899 AD (Between))
• WHEEL PIT (Constructed, XIX - 1801 AD (Between) to 1899 AD (Between))

Full description

Greeves, T. A. P., 1977, Letter in newspaper (Article in Serial). SDV235083.

(25/08/1977) "The ruin on the other side of the River (Rattlebrook), almost opposite Deadlake, is probably the remains of a rather unusual wheelpit erected in connection with Wheal George, a very small tin concern of the 1850s".

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

Not visible on the Royal Air Force vertical aerial photographs.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 109, Map 32 (Monograph). SDV219155.

On the east side of the Rattle Brook 150 metres upstream from the Dead Lake junction is the first of several gullies which have been driven into the banks on both sides of Rattle Brook. This one has a well-preserved wheel-pit of 7.0 metres by 1.8 metres with some walling on the north side, apparently fed from a leat taken off 400 metres upstream, though it no longer reaches this far.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(15/08/1995) Centred SX 5631 8428. The remains of a substantial wheelpit and an adjacent dressing floor lie on the narrow left bank floodplain of the Rattle Brook 150m north-east of Deadlake Foot. The wheelpit comprises two parallel walls of coursed boulders and blocks and measures a maximum of 2m high. The space between the walls, formerly occupied by the waterwheel, measures 8.0m north-west to south-east by 2.1m and is partially infilled with rubble. Immediately to the north and at a slight angle to the wheelpit is the dressing floor, a levelled platform measuring 6.1m north-south by 3.1m, enclosed on three sides by coursed boulder revetments and open to the west. There is no evidence to suggest the presence of buddles or settling pits. It would seem likely that this dressing floor was never used as the leat (SX 58 SE 52) supplying the wheelpit does not appear to have been completed.

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

SX 5831 8426 Evidence of a possibly unfinished stamping mill, c.1850 at Wheal George on Rattle Brook.

Probert, S. A. J. + Newman, P., 2003-2004, Measured survey North Dartmoor Military Range Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV350801.

(21/08/2003) These features remain undisturbed and as described by the Royal Commission (1995). Their construction appears to be related to the 19th century reworking of an openwork (Pastscape 1393451) on the opposite bank of the Rattle Brook, itself part of the Wheal Frederick sett (1392058).

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 2015-2017, 2015-2017 Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV361462.

Wheel pit is visible on the aerial photography; the dressing floor is less obvious.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8679 - Okehampton Range: Management Survey
• EDV8291 - Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV8695 - Survey of Okehampton North Dartmoor Military Range

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