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Summary

Remains of a tin mine situated 600 metres due south of Laughter Tor. Tin mining at Brimpts Mine may have commenced during the early 16th century and continued until 1855. The remains include an openwork gully, a small building within a row of trial pits and further possible shafts.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021049: Brimpts Mine, three prehistoric settlements and associated reaves 550m north west of Outer Huccaby Ring
• SHINE: Remains of prehistoric field systems and hut circle settlements, as well as funerary monuments above the Cherry Brook Valley, medieval field systems around Huccaby Rings and deserted Coxlake farmstead as well as the Brimpts Tin Mine leat

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NE123
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 915594
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NE/159
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SE/498/4/1
• Old SAM Ref: 34461
• Old SAM Ref: 34461(P)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• MINE (Constructed, XVI to XIX - 1600 AD (Between) to 1855 AD (Between))
• TIN WORK (Constructed, XVI to XVIII - 1600 AD (Between) to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

Greeves, T. + Robinson, R., 1984, Brimpts North Tin Mine (Report - Survey). SDV218303.

Surveyed at 1:200. Plans in possession of T. Greeves.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1987, List of donations to the Plymouth Museum (Un-published). SDV243606.

(23/11/1983) Slate from outflow channel of central buddle/settling pit of tin dressing floors at head of Cox Lake (Brimpts Mine) - 19th century slate presented to Plymouth Museum.

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

(10/11/1988) SX 6529 7511. The remains of Brimpts North Mine is situated about 375m OD on the heather covered S facing slope 600m due S of Laughter Tor. The mine if recorded (3) 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. It was resolved to wind up the latter in 1855.
Brimpts North Tin Mine comprises an openwork gully at SX 65287507, a small building within a row of trial pits and reset to a possible shaft, at SX 65267512, and trial pits and possible shafts at SX 65347511 (4).
The North Mine consists of :-
(A) An E-W line of about 40 or more trial or tin pits from SX 6506 7512 to SX 6543 7511 (RCHME APP, 1985). They appear to fall into three distinct groups. Group 1, comprising about 14 at the W end. These turf covered, rush or water filled, oval hollows oriented N-S, averaging 4.4m long, 3.4m wide and 0.5m deep. Six to the E have low debris banks partly or wholly round them. Group 2, about 14 at the E end are predominantly circular pits 2m to 3m in diameter and 0.5m to 1.1m deep, most with debris mounds surrounding them. Group 3, consists of about 10 pits occupying the central area of major activity around the main shaft (B) at SX 6529 7511.
Now fenced off the shaft is visible as a deep rocky sided chasm, 5m in diameter, with grassy slopes around the top some 2m high.
Originally 27m deep, it was subsequently deepened to 47m, and drained by pumps connected by 365m of flat-rods to a waterwheel at the dressing works (SX 67 SE 143). To the NW of the shaft is a turf covered, water-logged, circular hollow (C) 24m in diameter and 2m deep, with a gully leading out on the SE. About 54m E of the shaft is another, (D) 16m E-W by 12m at the top and 5m deep, at the bottom of which is an opening 4.5m by 2m E and W of these three major hollows are about seven others; turf covered and generally oriented E-W, they vary in size from 4.5m to 10m by 4m to 5m and are 1m to 1.5m deep. Most have debris banks around them. (E) SX 6520 7511. The turf covered foundations of two apparent buildings (shown on the 1st edition OS 6" 1883) (2) probably associated with the mine. They are set up against the enclosure wall but have been so robbed few details are evident. Mostly all that remains are two rectangular platforms about 0.3m high oriented N-S and 10m to 13m long by about 5m to 6m wide. The W wall of the northern structure (0.6m high 0.6m wide) is still evident set into the enclosure wall, just S of a blocked gateway through it, but no other walls remain standing. No entrances can be seen.
(F) SX 6526 7514 to SX 6540 7527 a dry leat.
(G) SX 6529 7510 to SX 6532 7495. A now dry gully some 150m long 7m to 11m wide and about 1.8m to 3m deep. Not an openwork (4) but probably made to channel water pumped from the shaft (B) towards the treatment works down the slope to the S. At (H) SX 6531 7504 the line of the gully is broken by the remains of an apparent dam about 1.5m high, possibly constructed to form a settlement pond.
(I) A track leads from the mine to the treatment works.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 59, Map 28, Sites 7, 13-14 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Brimpts Mine served by a 6 kilometre leat from the Cherry Brook west of Bellever Tor which can be traced to the edge of the plantation.

Bird, R. + Hirst, P., 1995, The Brimpts Tin Mines (Article in Serial). SDV268993.

Brimpts North Mine. See also SX67SE/445 for Brimpts North Mine, and SX67SE/14 for Brimpts South mine.
A site where tin mining has taken place in two phases, an early one with no known documentary record, but believed to be c.17th century, and a late phase between 1850 and 1855. A mill for processing the ore is associated with the later working. This was sited to the south in the area called Cocks Lake. The mill drew water from the Brimpts Mine leat.
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.

Bird, R. + Hirst, P., 1995, The Brimpts Tin Mines, 8-11 (Article in Serial). SDV268993.

(Jan 1995)

Bird, R. + Hirst, P., 1996, Brimpts Tin Mines, B1/4/1, B2 (Worksheet). SDV222442.

Survey and plan of north and south Brimpts Mines undertaken 1994

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

(30/09/2003) Remains of Brimpts Mine, which has probably been worked from the early 16th century. The earliest remains include an openwork and a group of lodeback pits. The adit and shaft belong to the later period of operation. Scheduled.

Dartmoor Tinworking Research Group, 2012, Brimpts North Mine plan (Plan - measured). SDV365282.

Detailed plan of section of the Brimpts North Mine, from survey work carried out in 2005 and 2012.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1021049 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The monument includes structures and earthworks associated with Brimpts Mine, three prehistoric settlements with associated enclosures, fields and reaves situated on a spur leading from Laughter Tor overlooking the valleys of the West and East Dart Rivers. Tin mining at Brimpts Mine may have started during the early part of the 16th century and continued sporadically until 1855. Amongst the earliest surviving remains are an openwork measuring up to 10 metres wide by 4 metres deep and a group of lodeback pits. The adit and shaft belong to the later period and it was from these that tin was extracted for processing in the nearby stamping mill and dressing floors. The wheelpit in which a wheel rotated sits next to a platform on which stamping machinery once sat. This wheel also provided a source of power for pumping machinery at the engine shaft. The power was transferred to the shaft via a series of interconnecting rods known as flat rods. A trench through which these rods passed survives in the area north of the wheelpit. Dressing of the stamped ore appears to have been carried out at three separate locations. The dressing floor next to the stamps survives as an irregular shaped platform denoted on two sides by a drystone revetment. Cut into the surface of this platform are a series of stone lined pits representing the site of settling pits and buddles. The second dressing floor at SX65307469 survives as a rectangular terraced area with a 0.8 metres high drystone revetment on all sides except the south which is denoted by a wall and bank. A triangular hollow cut into the platform represents the site of a buddle. The third dressing floor is at SX65327465 and survives as an 8.5 metres long by 4 metres wide rectangular hollow measuring up to 0.6 metres deep. Other structures associated with the mine include a building at SX65317471, a whim platform at SX65307512 and a group of three mine buildings at SX65207512.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV4038 - SLATE NON SPECIFIC (XVIII to Unknown - 1751 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV8634 - Brimpts Farm, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project
• EDV8877 - Survey of Brimpts North Mine

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