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Dear Bernard & Tony, Sortridge has a rather more interesting past prior to 1882. Mines appear to have been working there in the C15-C16 when the Grimstone & Sortridge Leat was opened. 4 miles long, it is believed to have been dug as early as the C15 to provide water for tinworks, though their locations are not known. What is known however is that a pair of gunnises (openworks) survive in Furzeland Down Wood, at NGR SX 4960 7065, where they are visible from the A386 Tavistock-Yelverton road, which cuts through them. If you drive slowly you can see them clearly. They look like other such gunnises in the Tamar valley, which date from the late C17-early C18 when there was a short-lived copper rush. I can't confirm that these date to that time, as I'm not aware that the relevant sett leases have survived in the Devon Record Office, but perhaps Tom Greeves (also a list member) will know. For further information, check out The Industrial Archaeology of Dartmoor, by Helen Harris, pub. David & Charles, Newton Abbot. Robert Waterhouse ======================================== Message Received: Oct 26 2006, 02:45 PM From: "Tony Brooks" To: [log in to unmask] Cc: Subject: Re: Sortridge Copper Mng.Co.Ltd Bernard Sortridge Copper Mining Co re-opened the Sortridge Consols Mine about 1881. The mine is situated about one a threequarters of a mile south-east of Whitchurch in Devon. It was primarily a copper mine with records of production from 1854 to 1871.. It was reopened for tin and apparently was only worked above adit. Production was small and, with two subsequent changes of ownership, it worked on and off until about 1902. Tony