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Summary

Remains of a small, 19th-century tin and copper mine situated along two tributaries of the River Lemon. The mine was operational during the 1850s and early 1860s. In 1851 it was documented as having a dressing floor powered by a 30-feet water wheel which powered 32 heads of stamps. A second wheel was added later to take the number of stamps up to 48. The mine was closed in 1856. In 1862 it was reopened adits were driven and a new 60 feet waterwheel was installed to power the stamps. The mine was closed in 1866. An archaeological field survey in 1999 recorded some of the earthworks included adits, shaft heads and a wheel pit which may have housed a 30 foot wheel powering pumping equipment. Other features included the dressing floors, and a possible blacksmith's shop were also recorded but were obscured by heavy vegetation cover. The dressing floors were served by a tramway. Its route is visible on aerial photographs and sections of the trackbed on the ground were well preserved. This site is included in the local list of Nationally Important Dartmoor sites.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthworks and stone walls of a Bronze age parallel reave system on Haytor Down with a number of hut circle settlements, enclosures and prehistoric cairns, plus 19th century Bagtor Tin Mine

Other References/Statuses

• Dartmoor Non-designated Heritage Asset (Historical): NI Site
• National Monuments Record: SX77NE87
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1221561
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX77NE/34

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BLACKSMITHS WORKSHOP (Constructed, XIX - 1850 AD (Between) to 1866 AD (Between))
• COPPER MINE (Constructed, XIX - 1850 AD (Between) to 1866 AD (Between))
• DRESSING FLOOR (Constructed, XIX - 1850 AD (Between) to 1856 AD (Between))
• STAMPING MILL (Constructed, XIX - 1850 AD (Between) to 1856 AD (Between))
• TIN MINE (Constructed, XIX - 1850 AD (Between) to 1866 AD (Between))
• TINNERS HUT (Constructed, XIX - 1850 AD (Between) to 1866 AD (Between))

Full description

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

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

Bagtor. Plan. R54 b. M. R. O. Tin.

Ramsden, J. V., 1952, Notes on the Mines of Devonshire, 89 (Article in Serial). SDV60737.

Other details: Figure 1.

Harris, H., 1968, Industrial Archaeology of Dartmoor, 200 (Monograph). SDV149229.

Bagtor Mine (SX765759); site includes remains of buildings, dressing floors and a large wheelpit. A 60 foot waterwheel was here in 1862. Above, on the down, are old surface workings and remnants of shafts and adits. Small quantities of tin were produced, probably early in the 1860s.

Atkinson, M. + Burt, R. + Waite, P., 1978, Dartmoor Mines. The Mines of the Granite Mass, 12 (Monograph). SDV346394.

Bagtor Tin Mine (SX762759), 1 1/2 miles west of Ilsington was worked underground from the early 1860s until 1865, and produced around 15 tons of black tin between 1863 and 1865. Old openworks at the site suggest earlier mining activity. Remains consist of dressing floors and a large wheelpit, which housed the 60 foot waterwheel installed in 1862 to pump the mine which may have been the largest in use on the moor at that time. This was later sold to another moor mine after the closure of Bagtor.
The mine worked three lodes coursing approximately east-west and the remains of the open workings, adits and shafts can be found upvalley from the dressing floors. The mine was worked by three adits and three shafts, but of these, only one adit and one shaft remain partly open, restricting access to the underground workings. Other details: Gazeteer number 1.

Everett, C., 1988, Haytor Down - Summary of Archaeological Features, HD46, Map 2 (Report - Survey). SDV359684.

Crownley Parks steamworks.

Newman, P., 1999, 2002, Haytor Down, Ilsington, Devon (Revised), 15-18, Figure 8 (Report - Survey). SDV346395.

(30/03/1999) Centred SX 7641 7603. Remains from the activity of a small, 19th-century mining enterprise known as Bagtor Mine are spread among two of the River Lemon tributaries, including the infant River Sig, and at Hemsworthy Gate. Only the remains in the northern of the two River Lemon tributaries, known as Crownley Parks have been surveyed by RCHME; it was associated with two short periods of documented activity in the 1850s and early 1860s. A dressing floor is recorded here in 1851, when the mine was worked as Haytor Consols. A 30ft wheel drove 32 heads of stamps with a second wheel added later to take the number of stamps up to 48. Underground work is also recorded at Crownley Parks with two adits being driven into the floor of the disused streamwork. Some tin was produced together with a small amount of copper though on the whole the mine was uneconomical and was closed in 1856.
It was reopened in 1862 as the Bagtor Mining Company when further adits were driven and a new 60ft waterwheel erected to drive the stamps, work finally ceased in 1866.
Two areas of surface remains mark former underground activity. At SX 7628 7617, near the head of the streamwork, a blocked stone-lined adit opens out onto an area with five confluent finger-dumps of spoil. This is possibly Lord Crounston's level as described by Hamilton Jenkin (1981). Also within the streamwork, 25m north-west of the adit is a large, corresponding, conical shafthead which is probably the outermost feature of the Crownley Parks sett. A ruined, rectangular stone building is built against the west side of the adit spoil heaps.
On a roughly south-east, downhill alignment, 80m from the adit is the first of five additional shaftheads and an adit at SX 7641 7603. The first shafthead, at SX 7633 7612, is particularly large and has a massive crescentic spoil heap on its downslope side. A 9m long wheelpit, sited on a level stance of ground 40m south-west of the shaft, could have housed a wheel of almost 30ft and probably powered pumping equipment. The lower adit has no associated spoil and is likely to have served for drainage only.
A third adit, clearly driving into a different section of lode, is sited lower down the streamwork at SX 7643 7596, and is oriented approximately east-west. A small stream now issues from within the adit and finger-dumps of spoil are located a few metres to the east of the opening. A corresponding shafthead may be identified, surrounded by a safety fence, in a nearby field to the west outside of the survey area.
The 'lavish' dressing floors, as Hamilton Jenkin describes them, are sited at the lower end of the streamwork, near the limit of enclosed land at SX 7668 7585. The remains are covered by dense vegetation allowing only very limited survey and interpretation. The most visible parts of the site are the stone revetments and terraces which make up the stamping area, consisting of two level stances, sited one above the other, each retained by a substantial, slightly battered revetment. The wheelpit, although visible in parts, could not be surveyed and its precise relationship to the dressing floors is not known.
Nearby a well-preserved, though ruined building with a chimney surviving to full height is known traditionally as the Blacksmith's Shop though its function may not be determined on current visible evidence because it is densely covered by brambles.
Ore was transported to these dressing floors via a tramway which extends to the workings in the Sig valley and beyond to the Hemsworthy part of the sett. Its course is clear on air photographs. The stony trackbed in Crownley Parks is well-preserved, beginning as a steep, revetted incline beside the Blacksmith's Shop and running north-east to a small stone structure which appears to be a winding house for the incline. The tramway then levels out and runs south-west across the streamwork, leaving the survey area and heading towards Bagtor Mine Cottages in the next valley. A report and survey are deposited in the NRHE archive.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 2002, Haytor Down: The Archaeology (Plan - measured). SDV359685.

Shown on survey.

English Heritage, 2005, Industrial Survey Information (Report - Survey). SDV346396.

Centred at SX76317607. Tin streamworks and lodeworkings known as Crownley Parks. Map object based on this Source.

Hamilton Jenkin, Dr. A. K., 2005, Mines of Devon, 126-7 (Monograph). SDV282410.

Extensive area of ground in a shallow valley near the head-waters of the River Lemon has been worked since ancient times for alluvial tin. In the mid 19th century, this area was worked by Haytor Consols, with a 30 foot wheel driving 32 heads of stamps and large areas of dressing floors laid out. The floors were connected to the Hemsworthy workings by a railway 1 ¾ miles in length. At the Crownley Works two adits were driven and a small amount of tin was raised here, as well as copper ore. In 1862 working was taken over by the Bagtor Mining Companyn and a new 60 by 2 ½ foot wheel was erected here to drive the stamps. By the end of 1866 the company was wound up due to the small amount of black tin being extracted.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

Map object based on this Source.

Richards, A. F., 2011, Untitled Source (Personal Comment). SDV282412.

The source detail ('Bagtor. Plan. R54 b…') was unreferenced - has been entered with the Abondoned Mines source record, although possibly should be linked to one of the others.

Newman, P., 2015, Rippon Tor Premier Archaeological Landscape, Dartmoor National Park, Devon, 50 (Report - Survey). SDV359145.

Bagtor Tin Mine
Remains of Bagtor Mine, alternatively known as Haytor Consols, a tin mine which attempted to work lodes within the upper tributary valleys of the River Lemon and Sig, mostly in the 1850s and 60s. Evidence within the Bagtor enclosure includes capped shafts with associated spoil and whim plats, also wheelpits and a tramway. (see MDV26531; 26532; 26524; 51797). Condition varies. SX75866 75708

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6836 - Rippon Tor Premier Archaeological Landscape survey
• EDV7021 - Haytor Down: Survey Report (Ref: A1/2/1999)

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