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Summary

Golden Dagger tin mine was worked from 1879 until 1914 and including an engine house, dressing floors, turbine, buddles, water wheels and leats. The L-shaped mine extended for nearly a kilometre to the west almost to the Walla Brook and nearly a kilometre to the south along the Redwater Brook.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021340: Tinworks, field systems, settlements, warren, cairns and a stone alignment at Headland Warren
• Scheduled Monument 1021393: Medieval strip field system, tinworks, part of a prehistoric settlement, a cairn and reave on Challacombe Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SE398
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1362166
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/64
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/64/1
• Old SAM Ref Revised: 34499

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• MINE SHAFT (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1809 AD (Between) to 1932 AD (Between))
• TIN MINE (Constructed, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1809 AD (Between) to 1932 AD (Between))

Full description

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

'Golden Dagger Tin Mine' shown on 19th century map.

Baring Gould, S., 1888, 10th Report of the Barrow Committee, 376-7 (Article in Serial). SDV222380.

Curious zinc apparatus found in the old tin-streamworks of Golden Dagger Mine, near the Vitifer works. Found in a heap of rubbish. Probably for gold washing. Small oblong box with bottom and a roll in the zinc along the sides. Had a part cover extending 14 millimetres from the head. Inside the box were two zinc articles. One an elaborate arrangement of 37 double teeth, fitting between each other, and hinged the one in the other, held together by a clenching-plate of zinc. Under the teeth and detached from it is a zinc receiver to catch the grains of gold that pass between the teeth.

Rowe, S., 1896, A Perambulation of the Royal Forest of Dartmoor and the venville precincts (Monograph). SDV249697.

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

'Golden Dagger Tin Mine' shown on early 20th century map.

Collins, J. H., 1912, Observations on the West of England Mining Region (Monograph). SDV323594.

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor (Monograph). SDV320981.

H. M. Stationary Office, 1929, Abandoned Mines, G8 (Monograph). SDV215700.

Golden Dagger. Situated east of the Wallabrook; the only one of those forming part of the important Birch Tor-Vitifer area to lie within Manaton parish. It was worked from 1879 on by Moses Bawden, and at times 30-40 men were employed from intermittent working between 1882-1914 the production of 220 tons of black tin were recorded. An adit was cut into the hillside, and 3 shafts connected the underground levels with the surface. The remains are now covered by a forestry plantation.

Ramsden, J. V., 1952, Notes on the Mines of Devonshire, 95, Figure 1 (Article in Serial). SDV60737.

Harris, H., 1968, Industrial Archaeology of Dartmoor, 207 (Monograph). SDV149229.

Broughton, D. G., 1968-1969, The Birch Tor & Vitifer tin mining complex, 9 (Article in Serial). SDV291528.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1985, Steeperton Tor Tin Mine, Dartmoor, 118 (Article in Serial). SDV310154.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1986, Tin Mines and Miners of Dartmoor, A photographic record (Monograph). SDV351363.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1990, An Assessment of Dartmoor Tinworking, 22 (Report - Assessment). SDV343684.

Lode workings at Golden Dagger tin mine likely to have medieval origins 1450-1600.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 21-2 Map 24, Figure 24.5 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Golden Dagger Mine extending along the Redwater Brook for nearly 1 kilometre and incorporating an engine house, dressing floors, turbine, buddles, water wheels and leats. The openwork probably dates to the 16th century but the earliest mention of Golden Dagger mine was in 1851. Serious underground working of the sett seems to have begun in 1879 when Moses Bawden took over the lease and invested a large amount of money in new plant and machinery and most of the shafts date from this period. This successful mine continued under several different owners until 1914. After the war only surface work was resumed, reworking the alluvial deposits along the valley bottom.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1991, Tinworking at Heathercombe, Manaton (Un-published). SDV280255.

Newman, P., 1996, Recording the Tinworks of Dartmoor Forest, 84-90 (Article in Serial). SDV337905.

Griffith, F. M., 20/01/1988, DAP/JR, 5a, 6 (Aerial Photograph). SDV245001.

Photograph taken on 20th January 1988.

Passmore, A., 2000, Golden Dagger tin mine, 7 (Article in Serial). SDV305928.

Recent forestry felling on the east bank of the Redwater stream exposed tin working features of Golden Dagger tin mine for the first time since the 1940s. Features include an engine house, stamping mills, dressing floors and leats.

Newman, P., 2002, Headland Warren and the Birch Tor and Vitifer Mines (Report - Survey). SDV363213.

(25/07/2002) Golden Dagger Mine
Nineteenth-century mining was occurring at this location by 1809 when the position of stamping mills are indicated on the 1st edition 1-inch OS map (1883), and Broughton states that the mine was particularly active from 1835 to 1860 (1968). However, it was not until the 1850s that the name Golden Dagger is first recorded. From 1879 Moses Bawden became associated with the mine as secretary and chief agent and in the following 25 years is believed to have spent £20,000 on developing it. In 1892 41 people were employed at the mine and tin was produced to the value of £1530. Work underground was halted at the outbreak of hostilities in 1914 but surface working continued after the war, under several companies, reworking the waste heaps of earlier tinners, within the confines of the Redwater valley floor. The Torr Trust was the last of the companies operating between 1925 and 1930. Many photographs of the tin dressing operations survive from this period and have been published by Greeves (1986), though much of the activity depicted is no longer evident, having been overwhelmed by bog, scrub growth and conifer plantation.
The lode worked by the Golden Dagger Mine runs east to west across Soussons Down and its course is marked by a deep and narrow openwork extending between the Redwater and Walla Brook and centred SX6796028. All of the 19th century underground activity is located within or close to this working, unfortunately much of this is currently covered by conifer plantation, some of which has collapsed over the remains, prohibiting survey. A number of shafts known to exist within the openwork including the Machine Shaft which has a wheelpit sited adjacent to it. At the far west end of the openwork three shaftheads centred SX6734 8016 are accessible referred to by Broughton as the Old West Shafts. The positions of two adits are also visible; one at the eastern terminal of the openwork at SX 6823 8035, survives now only as a small opening. A second collapsed adit at SX 6813 8036 is visible 125m to the west and uphill in the floor of the openwork. The masonry revetments which lined the side of the tramway are visible and a small finger dump occupies the bottom of the openwork to the east.
The mine had four dressing floors and several ancillary buildings (see related records for details).

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

'Golden Dagger Tin Mine (disused)' shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV4895 - TOOL (XIX to Mid 20th Century - 1809 AD to 1935 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV7390 - Archaeological condition survey in Soussons Woods
• EDV7402 - Archaeological condition survey in Soussons Woods
• EDV7431 - Woodland Survey (1989-90) at Bellever, Soussons and other woodland parcels
• EDV7139 - Headland Warren and the Birch Tor and Vitifer Mines Survey (Ref: A1/20/2001, A1/34/2002)
• EDV7421 - Archaeological condition survey in Soussons Woods
• EDV8658 - Challacombe, Duchy Farms Survey

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