John,
The mines near Nether Stowey you refer to are probably those at Dodington known as the Buckingham Mine, named after the Duke of Buckingham who owned the land in the early 19th century. There is remains of two engine houses of more or less identical layout, one still standing to its full height, the other partially collapsed, though puzzling is the fact that neither has a chimney. These are, according to David Bick the oldest standing engine houses known to have housed Boulton and Watt engines, dating from the early 19th century (though having said that I realise I have just set a challenge to list members to come up with an earlier one). These rather grand remains belie the fact that these copper mines were little more than a prospect of only a few fathoms in depth and never produced any saleable ore, possibly because the ore here, if that's what you would call it, was of such low grade. There was a similar story at the other great Quantock mining enterprise at Cothelstone Hall, but all that remains there is two shaftheads.
There is a very thorough, though hard to get hold of, book which discusses the history of the Quantock mines called 'Men and Mines of the Quantocks' by Hamilton and Lawrence. John Hamilton tells me he intends to update and reprint this work soon. If you're interested in the engine houses I surveyed both of them together with what little else remains of mining at Dodington. Do contact me off list if you would like a copy.
Best wishes
Phil Newman
-----Original Message-----
From: John Richards [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sat 4/16/2005 4:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Re: Mining in the South West of England
Mike wrote:
>Somerset did not feature in the discussion...has Mendip been abandoned to
>the cavers?<
I am only a novice with my mining interest compared with a majority of
people who post but I would love to know more (does anyone have references
to any papers etc please?) of the mining activities around Nether Stowey in
Somerset.
John
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