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Summary

This building was erected in 1868 to house a Cornish Beam pumping engine for Wheal Betsy silver / lead mine, which closed in 1877. Standing remains are in good condition; this building was saved from demolition by the Cornish Engines Preservation Society and bought by the National Trust in 1967. Consolidation work carried out in 1967-68, and later survey and weatherproofing work carried out in 1991.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1003191: Wheal Betsy pumping house

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 440756
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX58SW/6/1
• Old SAM County Ref: 787

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENGINE HOUSE (Built, XIX to Cold War - 1868 AD (Between) to 1991 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, SX58SW42 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV253760.

Lysons, D. + Lysons, S., 1822, Magna Britannica (Monograph). SDV323771.

de la Beche, H. T., 1839, Report on the Geology of Cornwall, Devon and West Somerset (Monograph). SDV337075.

Watson, J. Y., 1843, A compendium of British Mining (Monograph). SDV253743.

Crossing, W., 1901, A Hundred Years on Dartmoor (Monograph). SDV253763.

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.

Unknown, 1921, Special Report on Mineral Resources, 21 (Report - Scientific). SDV253744.

Other details: Lead, 337 Tavistock.

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

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1995, 4385 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224714.

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

Barton, D. B., 1964, The Mines and Mineral Railways of East Cornwall and West Devon, 84-92 (Monograph). SDV240068.

Booker, F., 1967, Industrial Archaeology of the Tamar Valley (Monograph). SDV240774.

Department of Environment, 1970, Wheal Betsy Pumping House (Schedule Document). SDV259946.

Engine house and chimmney stack remaining of building erected in 1868 to house a Cornish Beam pumping engine for Wheal Betsy silver / lead mine (1806-1877). Acquired and made safe by the national trust in 1967.
This structure has a fine position on Black Down above the valley of the Cholwell Brook. Stone-built engine house has no remaining roof, but is unchanged and is generally in good condition.

Minchinton, W. E., 1976, Industrial Archaeology in Devon, 25 (Monograph). SDV7016.

Other details: Photo.

National Trust, 1984, Wheal Betsy (Report - Survey). SDV253747.

The engine house was erected in 1868 following the re-opening of the mine in 1806. The mine closed in 1877. In 1967 the engine house and stack were repaired as monuments by the National Trust.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

B16 Wheal Betsy, also known as Prince Arthur Consols, used in lead mining. Recorded in survey.

1985, Untitled Source (Photograph). SDV253748.

Series of photographs of Wheal Betsy engine house, including one of the National Trust memorial plaque, which reads:
Wheal Betsy
This ancient silver-lead mine was reopened in 1806 and worked successfully for the next seventy years. The mine was worked by water power until 1868 when this building was erected to house a Cornish Beam pumping engine. Until its closure in 1877, all pumping, winding and crushing of ore was carried out by steam power.
In 1967 the ruined engine house and stack were acquired and made safe by the National Trust as a memorial to the mining industry of Dartmoor. Other details: 656/ 15-20.

Cranstone, D., 1991, HBMC Assessment of the Lead Industry (Report - non-specific). SDV344159.

(Site visited during 1990) Engine house is at the core of an important mining landscape. Chimney is intact and engine house conserved.

Pye, A. + Westcott, K., 1992, Archaeological survey of the pumping engine-house at Wheal Betsy, Mary Tavy, Figures 3-6, plates 1-3, 5, 6 (Report - Survey). SDV253761.

this building was saved from demolition by the Cornish Engines Preservation Society and bought by the National Trust in 1967. Consolidation works to building undertaken in 1967-68.
Surveyed in 1991 in advance of works to weatherproof the building. Narrow rectangular building, three-and-a-half storeys high with pitched roof. Constructed of roughly dressed locally quarried stone. All windows, arches, doors etc have timber lintels (replaced 1967-8). Side walls 0.80 metres thick at base, 0.65 metres at first floor, 0.25 metres at the top. Rear wall 0.7 metres thick for full height. Front wall 1.50 metres thick, to accommodate weight of the bob and stress caused by piston thrust.
In the interior, the rear two thirds of the ground floor occupied by platform of rubble masonry (the 'cylinder bed'). The engine cylinder would have been sited at the front of this, held in place by iron tie bolts running down through the bed. The bottoms were accessed via tunnels which are now largely blocked. The cylinder would have been installed (and removed) through a 2.40 metres wide doorway in the rear wall.
West of the cylinder bed lies the cockpit or cataract pit, accommodating the water clocks (cataracts) which regulated the engine timing. The education pipe carried exhaust steam from the cylinder across the top of the pit and through the front (west) wall into the condenser, which was housed outside the bob wall.
The ground floor was lit by a window in the north wall and a window or door in the south wall. First floor would have been level with top of engine cylinder. Joists probably ran east-west with sockets being removed during 1960s alterations. Lit by windows in north and south walls. Second floor corresponded with top of west (bob) wall and was used for maintenance of the bob and its associated machinery. Sockets for massive stress-accommodating beams identified. Lit by window in rear wall and probably through glazing in the doors opening onto the bob gantry at the front. The front wall from bob wall to roof gable would have been of timber.
The whole of the interior, except cataract, was plastered. Much of this survives. Built 1868 or 1871 and saw only 6-9 years of use before the mine closed in 1877.

Department of Environment, 1993, Untitled Source (Correspondence). SDV259950.

Scheduled Monument Consent granted for general repairs.

Nance, R. W. + Nance, R. D., 1996, A Survey of Engine Houses on the Mines of South Devon, 109-122 (Article in Serial). SDV241746.

Nance, R. D., 1996, Project Design for a Survey of Engine Houses on the Mines of South Devon (Report - Assessment). SDV222663.

Nance, R. W. + Nance, R. D., 1996, Wheal Druid and the Engine Houses of Dartmoor, 4-6 (Article in Serial). SDV340907.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8453 - Survey of the Pumping engine house, Wheal Betsy (Ref: 92.08)

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