Robert Waterhouse <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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 <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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
The most unfortunate event in the history of this company was the holing
through into flooded workings whilst attempting to clear the adit. There
were several fatalities including the mine agent. This was extensively
reported in local newspapers at the time.
The workings alongside the main road were part of Gem or West Sortridge
Consols mine, which was really just a tin mine; I would suggest that (like
many of the shallow tin workings in the Tavistock area) were a century or
so earlier than you suggest. I think that in most cases the "copper boom"
of c1700-1730 involved the reopening of old tin workings or were
exploration by tinners had only discovered copper, at times when because of
lack of demand and the Mines Royal monopoly tinners were unable to sell
copper ore they may have discovered.
Alasdair Neill
========================================
The most unfortunate event in the history of this company was the holing
through into flooded workings whilst attempting to clear the adit. There
were several fatalities including the mine agent. This was extensively
reported in local newspapers at the time.
The workings alongside the main road were part of Gem or West Sortridge
Consols mine, which was really just a tin mine; I would suggest that (like
many of the shallow tin workings in the Tavistock area) were a century or
so earlier than you suggest. I think that in most cases the "copper boom"
of c1700-1730 involved the reopening of old tin workings or were
exploration by tinners had only discovered copper, at times when because of
lack of demand and the Mines Royal monopoly tinners were unable to sell
copper ore they may have discovered.
The Grimstone & Sortridge leat water was supplying water to East Crowndale
Mine early in the 19th C (Maristow Estate Accounts), presumably there must
have been a branch taking water from the leat into the Whitchurch valley,
which I hope to look for but may have been obliterated in Military
developments. This leat is of course still at least in part running,
although its potential for small scale HEP production (at Merrivale Quarry)
seems to be ignored at present.
Alasdair Neill
========================================
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