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Summary

Luscombe Engine Shaft; part of the East Wheal Luscombe sett. Worked in the early 19th century by both the Tavistock Canal Company and Cornish adventurers Fox, Williams & Co. Site of a steam engine built in 1814 housed in an L-shaped building at the south side of the shaft (no longer extant).

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX47SW/516/9

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• MINE SHAFT (Constructed, XVIII - 1790 AD to 1800 AD (Between))
• STEAM ENGINE (Constructed, XIX - 1814 AD to 1814 AD (Between))

Full description

BUCK, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV219466.

Site of a shaft shown on the 1867 lode map & on the os (1884) map as ‘old shaft – fenced’ on the ‘luscombe lode’ which was probably used to pump out the undergound workings. It was later described as ‘engine shaft’. The survey in 2003 found the deep open shaft surrounded by an elliptical earthen bank 6m x 4.5m x 0.9m high. Masonry on the north side resembled balance bob mounting walls. Masonry on the west side may indicate the site of the capstan. The bedrock is visible in the shaft at 6m depth. The shaft may have been reused after the engine house apparently erected in 1803 had ceased operating. A horsewhim located at sx44267192 has banks 8m diameter x up to 1.3m high marking the outer limits. A central pit indicates the site of the melior stone (buck).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV267348.

Des=buck, c.(cornwall archaeological unit)/bedford united mine: archaeological assessment/(2003)80+figs 8,16,17,24/cau report no 2003ro43 site 97 in smr.

Waterhouse, R., 2017, The Tavistock Canal. Its History and Archaeology, 201-7, Figs 6.55-63 (Monograph). SDV361789.

This shaft was the site of one the earliest attempts at working a mine on the Devon bank of the Tamar using steam power.
In 1814, the Cornish mining adventurers Fox, Williams & Co. started serious developments at the eastern end of the East Wheal Luscombe sett, erecting a steam engine on Luscombe Engine Shaft, which may have been a deliberately provocative act and certainly attracted renewed attention from the Canal Company who then restarted work on the sett. By 1815, agreement had been reached between the parties and the sett was worked jointly until 1821. The engine was sited on the south side of the shaft in a small stone-built house (show on additions to the 1768 Bedford Estate Map (fig 6.63) as an L-shaped building. The steam engine was sold in 1822 and this building seems to have been wholly removed after 1821; there is no evidence of it remaining on the site today.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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