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Summary

Birch Tor Mine (tin with micaceous iron). A tin mining complex formed by the Birch Tor and Vitifer Tin Mine setts which cover an area of approximately six square kilometres. The area contains forty beamworks and opencuts, leats, lode back working, prospecting features and streamworks. The earliest features date from the Medieval and were in use until the 18th century. During the 19th and early 20th century these techniques were replaced by nucleated shaft and adit mines. These were the most important on Dartmoor and are some of the best survivals of the later phases of Dartmoor's mining tradition. Some of the features were included in an archaeological field survey carried out by English Heritage in 2001-2. Details of individual sites have been recorded separated, see related records for details.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021340: Tinworks, field systems, settlements, warren, cairns and a stone alignment at Headland Warren

Other References/Statuses

• National Buildings Record: 110825
• National Monuments Record: SX68SE301
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1330988
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/66
• Old SAM Ref: 34499

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BEAMWORK (Constructed, Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1539 AD (Between))
• DAM (Constructed, Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1539 AD (Between))
• OPENCUT (Constructed, Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1539 AD (Between))
• PROSPECTING PIT (Constructed, Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1539 AD (Between))
• RAKE (Constructed, Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1539 AD (Between))
• STREAMWORKS (Constructed, Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1539 AD (Between))
• MINE SHAFT (Constructed, Post Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1540 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))
• TIN MINE (Constructed, XVIII to XIX - 1780 AD (Between) to 1870 AD (Between))

Full description

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

'Birch Tor Tin Mine (Disused)' shown on 19th century map.

Baring Gould, S., 1900, A Book of Dartmoor, 170 (Monograph). SDV277387.

Vitifer mine above Golden Dagger mine where fortunes have been made by the 'captains' and promoters and lost by the investors.

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

'Birch Tor & Vitifer Tin Mine' shown on early 20th century map.

Ramsden, J. V., 1952, Notes on the Mines of Devonshire, 90 fig.1 (Article in Serial). SDV60737.

Minchinton, W., 1973, Industrial Archaeology in Devon, 25 (Monograph). SDV362710.

Birch Tor Mine b21 (see Kings Oven and Golden Dagger also) tin with micaceous iron. In the late 18th and mid 19th century, Birch Tor and Vitifer were the largest group of tin mines on the moor and extended right down the valley to link up with the Golden Dagger Mine in Manaton. The water for these mines was brought down by a seven mile leat from the East Dart. A footpath leads down to the head of the West Webburn River, where artificial ravines made by tin miners before the days of shaft mining can be seen. There are extensive earthworks and shafts in this area and care should be taken.

Griffith, F. M., 1985, DAP/EM, 12 (Aerial Photograph). SDV274678.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1985, Steeperton Tor Tin Mine, Dartmoor, 106 (Article in Serial). SDV310154.

Vitifer mine was one of 11 mines working on Dartmoor in 1799. It was then known as 'Videford Mine' and had probably been prosperous for c. 20 years. It was owned by Simpson & Co. who were also the proprietors of White Work and Rundlestone Mines.

Griffith, F. M., 1986, DAP/HP, 5, 6 (Aerial Photograph). SDV304235.

Griffith, F. M., 1989, DAP/JX, 6-10 (Aerial Photograph). SDV345088.

Griffith, F. M., 1990, DAP/TV, 9-12 (Aerial Photograph). SDV160790.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 22-25, Map 24, Figure 24.5 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Birch Tor and Vitifer Mines were originally separate mines on opposite sides of the Redwater Brook but they were usually worked together during most of their recorded history. The first reference to Vitifer Mine was in 1750. Shafts and adits were being dug before the end of the 18th century and operated as a profitable venture until the slump in the price of tin in the 1820s. It was acquired by various enterprises during the later 19th century and was finally abandoned in 1882.

Richardson, P. H. G., 1992, The Mines of Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley after 1913, 129 (Article in Serial). SDV323598.

Worked intermittently 1915-28.

Cranstone, D. + Hedley, I., 1995, Monuments Protection Programme: The Tin Industry Step 3 Site Assessments, Devon 56a (Report - non-specific). SDV357946.

The mining complex formed by the Birch Tor and Vitifer tin mines covers an area of approximately six square kilometres. The area contains forty beamworks and opencuts, leats, lode back working, prospecting features and streamworks. The earliest features date from the Medieval and were in use until the 18th century. During the 19th and early 20th century these techniques were replaced by nucleated shaft and adit mines. These were the most important on Dartmoor and are some of the best survivals of the later phases of Dartmoor's mining tradition.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1997, Dartmoor Mines in 1799, 7-8 (Article in Serial). SDV262863.

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

Two waterwheels were present 40 feet and 32 feet.

Griffith, F. M., 20/01/1988, DAP/JR, 1-4, 8a-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV245001.

Whitbourne, A., 2001, Visit to Vitifer and Birch Tor Mines, 3-4 (Article in Serial). SDV305962.

One of most important tin producing areas of Dartmoor for many centuries. Charles Hatchett, a mineralogist in 1796 described the mines then actively working and employing 40 men.

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

(14/01/2001) Tin mines in the Redwater Valley centred SX 6820 8100. The later mine remains, which date from the 18th-20th centuries, lie mostly among the evidence of Mediaeval streamworks, beamworks and openworks and consist of shafts, adits, wheelpits, leats, tramways and buildings. For details see child records.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1021340 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The monument includes a wide variety of archaeological remains situated within and immediately adjacent to Headland Warren. Extending over much of the monument are earthworks and structures relating to the extraction of tin. Amongst these remains are streamworks, openworks, lode-back pits, prospecting pits and gulleys, leats and reservoirs together with at least four major 19th to 20th century mines and their associated shafts, adits, pumping systems, tramways, wheelpits and dressing areas. Much of the surviving archaeology relates to the extraction of tin deposits and lodes. Three major areas of streamworking earthworks survive within the monument and each lies adjacent to the separate streams leading through the monument. The most visually dramatic element of the monument, however, are the openworks which trend roughly west to east and many survive as substantial sharp sided linear opencast quarries. The openworks are the result of surface mining and are generally thought to date to between 1450 and 1750 AD. Another form of surface working was the use of lode-back pits which are essentially small shafts dug onto the back of the lode. These are believed to have been the precursor to deep mining and also probably date to the period before 1750 AD. Large numbers of leats and reservoirs, used to carry and store water survive within the monument. Water was crucial for many different parts of the prospecting, extraction and dressing process and the leats, together with the reservoirs provide crucial information relating to the character and relative dating of many elements surviving within the various tinworks. The Headland Warren area contains at least four major post-medieval mines, although at times they were amalgamated and given different names. The four mines are Birch Tor, East Birch Tor, Vitifer and Golden Dagger. The earliest of these is Vitifer Mine which is first documented in the 1780s and continued in use, together with Birch Tor, until about 1870. After this time sporadic and limited exploration accompanied by reworking of dumps continued until 1925. East Birch Tor Mine is first recorded in 1836 and continued sporadically producing tin until 1927. Golden Dagger is first recorded in the 1850s although it is known that mining had commenced here much earlier. This mine was the last to operate on Dartmoor, being finally abandoned in 1939. Much of the archaeological evidence relating to the extraction of tin from these mines survives underground and is therefore not visible. At the surface however there are a range of structures visible at each mine and amongst these are shafts, adits, stamping mills, reservoirs, leats, tramways, whim platforms, dressing floors, wheelpits, ancillary buildings such as miners' drys, count houses and accommodation.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7139 - Headland Warren and the Birch Tor and Vitifer Mines Survey (Ref: A1/20/2001, A1/34/2002)

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