Underground Gazetteer - Tavy and Tamar Valleys (Devon side)

This describes all mines known to have been worked underground on the Devon bank of the Tamar and in the adjoining Tavy Valley, but does not pretend to be comprehensive. In particular, several mines worked at surface before the 18th century, have evidence of drainage or exploratory adits. These are usually hand-picked and difficult to date. These are referred to in the Surface Mining page, which should be read in conjunction with this one. The lode numbering system found on that page is also used here, although some mine setts contained several of these lodes.

The information presented here is gleaned from a variety of sources, all of which are quoted. I am particularly indebted to Rick Stewart for his knowledge of 19th and 20th century mining in the Tamar Valley and Fiona O'Connor for making information available from research she has carryied out into the earlier history of mining on Morwell Down. This is an ongoing process, so this list will be updated regularly as more information comes to light.

Primary sources for this research are the Abandoned Mines Records (abbreviated to 'AMRs' in the gazetteer) owned by the Health & Safety Executive and held at the Devon Record Office in Exeter; the extensive and important Bedford Papers held at the DRO; and the 1946 Royal Air Force aerial survey of Britain, the Devon photographs of which were taken from a height of 10,000 feet in Winter 1945-46. Monochrome prints of these are held at the Devon County Historic Environment Record at County Hall, Exeter. For ease of reference, these are mentioned in the gazetteer as '1946 RAF APs'. Many of the mine sites described here have been studied by the author, some being partly or wholly surveyed as part of his research into their history and archaeology.

Secondary sources include DB Barton's 'Mines & Mineral Railways of East Cornwall & West Devon' of 1964; HG Dines' 1956 'Metalliferous Mining Region of South-West England' (Vol. 2) in the British Geological Survey series; AK Hamilton Jenkin's 'Mines and Miners of Cornwall' (Vol. 15) of 1969 and his 'Mines of Devon' (Vol. 1) of 1974. Various articles in Tamar Journal and the Plymouth Caving Group Journal have also been studied - these are listed on the Further Reading page.

Rick Stewart's important recent reprinting of various articles on Devon Great Consols (Tamar Mining Press 2003) and his publication of some of Charles Barclay's notes ('Mines of the Tamar & Tavy', ibid 2005), have been quoted mercilessly, as have the unpublished contents of his brain!

Frank Booker's 'Industrial Archaeology of the Tamar Valley' of 1967 has been referred to, but seldom goes into adequate detail and does not quote specific references.

It should be noted that not all the lodes mentioned in the Surface Mining page are listed here. Where a lode is not mentioned, there are no known underground workings on its line.