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Summary

South Tamar Silver and Lead Mine, operated in early 19th century until flooded in 1856. The mine is depicted on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of between the 1880's-90's and is visible as earthwork pits, banks and a structure on aerial photographs of 1946 and visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013 and 2019.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX46SW/502

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• EXTRACTIVE PIT (XIX - 1801 AD to 1856 AD)
• MINE (XIX - 1801 AD to 1856 AD (Between))
• SPOIL HEAP (XIX - 1801 AD to 1856 AD)

Full description

Claughton, P. F., 04/01/1993, Mine at Bere Alston; Collapse of Ground at Cleave Mine. (Correspondence). SDV344106.

The southern part of Cleave Mine was worked by the Bearalstone Mining Company as South Tamar Mine, until an unflux of river water halted operations in 1856. The surviving plan and section for South Tamar ( AM R7C, in the Devon Record Office), shows that part of the mine south of Glyns Shaft. The South Tamar company is known to have examined ground north of Glyns and to have sunk or reopened two shafts, Smiths and Mundys, but any extensive working in depth was curtailed by the flooding of 1856. Other details: Sketch plan.

Ordnance Survey, 1809, Untitled Source (Cartographic). SDV40346.

Lysons, D. + Lysons, S., 1822, Magna Britannica, 41 (Monograph). SDV323771.

South West Heritage Trust, 1838-1848, Digitised Tithe Maps and Transcribed Apportionments (Cartographic). SDV359954.

The earthworks correspond with land parcels 1464.1 and 1466 which are recorded as ‘Mine’ and ‘Orchard’, respectively.

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848 (Cartographic). SDV349431.

Possible earthworks are shown in this location.

Unknown, 1842, Bere Ferrers (Cartographic). SDV344147.

Tithe Map has mine marked at SX436645.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'South Tamar Mine (Silver & Lead, disused)' shown.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Features labelled as ‘South Tamar Mine (Silver & Lead, disused)’ are shown.

Ordnance Survey, 1907, 111SW (Cartographic). SDV240062.

Chope, R. P., 1912 - 1913, Silver Mines in Devonshire, 54-7 (Article in Serial). SDV337061.

In the reign of Henry VII there were silver mines at Combe Martin and Bere Ferrers in Devon. Together they employed about 1000 men and during a short period yielded up to 44000 pounds in bullion and lead yearly.

Syme Saunders, E. G., 1936, Plymouth Silver, 299-302 (Article in Serial). SDV340282.

Hoskins, W. G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon, 332 (Monograph). SDV17562.

The silver mines at Bere Alston were worked intermittently from the 1290's down to the late 19th century.

Barton, D. B., 1964, The Mines and Mineral Railways of East Cornwall and West Devon, 101-2 (Monograph). SDV240068.

Booker, F., 1967, Industrial Archaeology of the Tamar Valley, 65-7 (Monograph). SDV240774.

Richest mine on the east lode. Solitary chimney and dumps are only surface remains. In line with chimney is a shallow adit in the roadside bank through which workings can be approached. Tracing of subsurface workings run between Hole's Hole and Cargreen. Flooded on the 30th of August 1856. Five steam engines and sections of tramway sold off in 1857.

Hamilton Jenkin, Dr. A. K., 1974, Mines of Devon. Volume 1: The Southern Area, 44-7 (Monograph). SDV336694.

Minchinton, W. E., 1976, Industrial Archaeology in Devon, 28 (Monograph). SDV7016.

South Tamar Consols Mine; the ruins of this mine, disastrously flooded in 1856, lie a quarter mile south of Weir Quay.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX46SW3 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV344158.

South Tamar Mine (disused).
The silver mines at Bere Alston were worked intermittently from the 1290s down to the late 19th century. An ordinance of 1298 shows that they were mined at the King's expense.

Atkinson, B., 1988, Untitled Source, 79 (Monograph). SDV344160.

Cranstone, D., 1991, Bere Alston Mines: Overall Assessment (Un-published). SDV359166.

The Bere Alston mines are documented from 1290 onwards, and the early features are ranged along a lead/silver vein running north-south from Butspill mine to South Tamar mine, interspersed with 19th century mines.

Cranstone, D., 1991, The Lead Industry, Site 1E (Report - non-specific). SDV90317.

Site visited during 1990. Important earlier 19th century mine. Medieval and Tudor working possible. Tips and chimney survive, with adit beside road. Most of the site is now a Ministry of Defence training area.

Reliable assessment not possible; no features worth protection seen from road.

Nance, R. W. + Nance, R. D., 1996, A Survey of Engine Houses on the Mines of South Devon, 118-9 (Article in Serial). SDV241746.

Dyer, M. J. + Manning, P. T., 1998, Objective 5B: Lower Tamar Valley Recreation and Land Management Iinitiative: Cultural Heritage Appraisal, 52 (Report - non-specific). SDV319814.

Middleton, R., 1999, Lower Birch Farm Field Inspection Report, 2 (Report - non-specific). SDV344152.

Site visit 22nd September 1999. A large area of spoil heaps, fenced off, and partly inaccessible due to dense vegetation. No structures were visible in the area visited, nor were any signs of the 'adit' noted previously. Damageto remains caused by removal of material for hardcore in early 1990s, and some small consolidation works.

Environment Agency, 2000-2019, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) EA: Tamar Aerial Survey project area, LIDAR Environment Agency LAST RETURN 19-APR-2019 (Cartographic). SDV363954.

Earthworks of sub-oval and irregularly shaped pits and banks are visible.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 2001-2002, Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme Transcriptions and Database Records, RAF/CPE/UK/1890 4019-20 10-DEC-1946 (Interpretation). SDV346287.

The mine is visible as an earthwork spoil heap and structure on aerial photographs of 1946. Map object partly based on this source.

Claughton, P. F., 2003, Silver Mining in England and Wales, 1066-1500 (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV81879.

Rippon, S. + Claughton, P. + Smart, C., 2009, Mining in a Medieval Landscape: The Royal Silver Mines of the Tamar Valley, 77 (Monograph). SDV344097.

South from Cleave Wood to the river Tamar, at what was known as South Tamar Consols in the 1850s, the pattern of mineralisation takes the workable lead/silver deposits deeper into the strata, forcing mining under the river in the first half of the nineteenth century. Other details: Figure 4.3.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Map object partly based on this Source.

Buck, C., 2010, South Tamar Consols, Bere Alston, Devon: Archaeological Assessment (Report - Assessment). SDV344718.

Buck, C., 2010, South Tamar Consols, Bere Alston, Devon: Archaeological Assessment (Report - Assessment). SDV344718.

Buck, C., 2010, South Tamar Consols, Bere Alston, Devon: Archaeological Assessment, 6-10 (Report - Assessment). SDV344718.

A timeline has been used to illustrate the history, fortunes and failures of the mine, compiled from a variety of sources. A walk-over field survey of the south-western end, either side of the road, was undertaken to assess the potential for buried archaeology. The small section of ground to the east of the road consists of rough ground made into two laybys and an intervening wooded section which includes mounds of mine waste. A barbed wire fence restricts public access to the core of the mine, but visible just inside there is evidence of a small number of walled remnants of former buildings, aligned parallel with the fence, one or two more than 5 metres long and up to 1.5 metres high. The only archaeological feature revealed was an adit shaft, covered with rotting timber and a loose wire fence. The adit drains under the road and into the River Tamar via a small defined rivulet through the riverine silt.grass. The shape and form of a possible 'quay/hard' was not visible and is not shown on recent Ordnance Survey maps. Other details: Figures 4-8.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: Tamar Aerial Survey project area, LIDAR Tellus LAST RETURN 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV363955.

Earthworks of sub-oval and irregularly shaped pits and banks are visible.

Hegarty, C., Houghton, E., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2020-2021, Tamar/Lidar; A Single Source Approach to Landscape Survey and Socially Distanced Community Archaeology Area 1 (AI&M project) (Interpretation). SDV363945.

A dense concentration of sub-oval and irregularly shaped pits and banks, between 7-40 metres long, is visible as earthworks on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013 and 2019. The visible earthworks occupy an area of circa 1.2 hectares of south-west facing slope along the River Tamar foreshore.
Transcription of these earthworks was carried out primarily using Simple Local Relief and Positive Openess lidar visualisations. Given their complexity and in places subtle nature, not all visible earthworks have been transcribed and an extent of area polygon has been used to define the approximate limit of the earthworks.
The earthworks correspond with land parcels 1464.1 and 1466 on the mid-19th century Parish Tithe Map which are recorded as ‘Mine’ and ‘Orchard’, respectively, on the accompanying Tithe Apportionment. Possible earthworks are additionally shown within land parcel 1464.1 on this map. The pits and banks also correspond with several earthworks depicted and labelled as ‘South Tamar Mine (Silver & Lead, disused)’ on the late-19th century and early-20th century First and Second Edition Ordnance Survey maps.
The earthworks are therefore interpreted as the extractive pits and/or shafts and spoil heaps associated with this mine, that had passed out of use by the late-19th century.

Buck, C., 27/04/2010, Lode of Silver Mines (Correspondence). SDV344548.

Attached copy of part of John Hobart's map of 1737 shows the lode of the silver mines from South Tamar Consols (referred to as 'mouth of the Silver Mines'.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4762 - South Tamar Consols, Bere Alston, Devon: Archaeological Assessment
• EDV4763 - Rapid Field Survey, South Tamar Consols
• EDV6911 - Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme
• EDV8345 - Tamar/Lidar; A Single Source Approach to Landscape Survey and Socially Distanced Community Archaeology Area 1 (AI&M) (Ref: ACD2380)

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