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Summary

Tumbled and disturbed remains of a tin stamping mill lie at the foot of a tinners cliff on the level floor of extensive tin workings adjacent to the River Plym. The structure has largely collapsed and is now covered by rubble and debris. The drystone wall footings which are about 0.8m wide and are on average 0.7m high, define an internal area approximately 5.8m by 3.0m which is open on the SE side. A large mortarstone in the form of a damaged granite boulder with two large mortar holes in its upper face lies at the rear of the ruin. It has apparently fallen from the side of the tinners cliff fairly recently.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66NW13
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 441600
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NW/22

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• STAMPING MILL (Constructed, Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• TIN MILL (Constructed, Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))

Full description

Worth, R. H., 1940, The Dartmoor Blowing House, 222 (Article in Serial). SDV154693.

Blowing house. Right bank of the River Plym, above Langcombe. Leat still traceable. Broken remains of a mortar found. Internal dimensions of building 5.2 metres by 3 metres. Thickness of walls 838 millimetres.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1978, SX66NW13 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV252788.

(07/06/1950) This antiquity is in a ruinous condition. The broken mortar stone containing two mortars was found inside the building. Stamping mill.
(06/09/1978) Blowing house built into the foot of a low bluff on top of which are traces of the associated leat. Structure is in poor condition, much tumbled and overgrown; south-east end is open and a 1 metre wide entrance exits midway along the south-west side. Internally it measures 6 metres by 3 metres, with walling 0.8 metres thick and 0.8 to 1.7 metres high. No wheelpit or furnace can be seen, and the broken mortar referred to by Worth is not visible. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1981, List of Known Devon Tin Mills c1450 - c1750, No. 34 (Report - non-specific). SDV319826.

Listed as a pre-1700 tin-mill.

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

Not visible on aerial photographs.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1990, An Assessment of Dartmoor Tinworking, 41 (Report - Assessment). SDV343684.

Greeves, T., 1993, New mortarstone exposed at mill, 2 (Article in Serial). SDV252792.

(26/11/1992 and 12/12/1992) Greeves notes a (previously unrecorded) large and highly visible double mortar stone lying in the centre of the mill structure. Measures 0.8m by 0.7m (0.34m thick) and may have fallen out of the west wall of the mill. Two large mortars (0.25m diameter) in upper surface.

Bodman, M., 1998, Water-Powered Sites in Devon, 23,2 (Report - non-specific). SDV305931.

'Lower Hartor Tor' tinners mill on the River Plym.

Newman, P., 1999, Eylesbarrow (Ailsborough) Tin Mine (Report - Survey). SDV352201.

(11/07/1999) X60456742. The tumbled and disturbed remains of a tin stamping mill lie at the foot of a tinners cliff on the level floor of extensive tin workings adjacent to the River Plym.
The structure has largely collapsed and is now covered by rubble and debris. The drystone wall footings which are about 0.8m wide and are on average 0.7m high, define an internal area approximately 5.8m by 3.0m which is open on the SE side. There is a turf-covered mound, ? of spoil, near this gap which is 3.5m in diameter and up to 0.9m high.
A large mortarstone in the form of a damaged granite boulder with two large mortar holes in its upper face lies at the rear of the ruin. It has apparently fallen from the side of the tinners cliff fairly recently.

English Heritage, 2005, Survey Information (miscellaneous date) (Report - Survey). SDV345855.

Rectangular structure shown on survey.

Ordnance Survey, 2021, MasterMap 2021 (Cartographic). SDV364015.

'Blowing House (Remains of)' shown as a rectangular building on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV7597 - MORTAR STONE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1750 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV6239 - Eylesbarrow (Ailsborough) Tin Mine

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