East Vitifer Mine

On Shapley Common and Westcombe Down (aka Gold Park Newtake) a number of late Medieval openworks can be found. Two of these lodes near West Coombe are known as Birch Tor Lode (or North Lode) and East Vitifer Lode (Main or South Lode) and it is these two lodes which attracted mining companies in the 19^th century, trying to continue the exploits of the ‘old men’. Mining here was undertaken on one or both of the aforementioned lodes between around 1845 and 1887, then again in the early 20^th Century. The main dressing floor of East Vitifer Mine can be located to the south west of the farming community of West Coombe in a sheltered valley next to West Combe Brook with the shafts being located on the open moor above a dwelling called Kings Barrow.

Broughton records that interest in the tin deposits started around 1845, through local adventurers and businessmen from Moretonhampstead and North Bovey, albeit there had been no evidence of previous streamworks along West Combe Brook itself. Initially, the main lode (East Vitifer) which ran parallel to the brook was explored and several adits were driven along this. One of these adits, near the upper (south west) end of the dressing floor complex can still be located today. In February 1849, the sett was taken over by the Devon Great Tincroft Mining Company, who erected new machinery and plant. By 1851, the drivage of the adit to the main lode had continued and the sinking of two shafts (New Shaft and Footway Shaft) were commenced. The main lode was only 18in wide but by July 1852 tin was being sold. The upper of two shafts (Engine Shaft) has a small wheel pit alongside it, and water was fed to it by a large tinners’ reservoir a short distance up the hill.

By 1855 or 1856, the mine had been consolidated with East Birch Tor under the title of Devon Great Tincroft. The lease for this had little success and expired in 1866. On 8th June 1869, a Richard Moore acquired and bought the leases of the adjoining properties and formed the East Vitifer Tin Mining Company Ltd. After the creation of the new company, operations commenced with the erection of two waterwheels, workshops and dressing floors, which were laid out near the main lode adit portal.

Sometime after 1869 (exact date unkown), a second lode (known as North lode or Birch Tor lode) was worked 300m to the north. Operations on the second lode included the sinking of a shaft (New Engine Shaft) and driving a shallow adit from the north east. Ore was transported to the dressing floors by way of a tramway from the adit and from the area of New Engine Shaft. In February 1873, an advertisement (West Briton) requested tenders for a turbine or waterwheel to power 20 head of stamps or two head of pneumatic stamps, two drags, two round buddles and a stock of frames for dressing the slime. By late summer 1873, a 60ft waterwheel and stamps were known to be dismantled at East Bottle Hill Mine and brought to East Vitifer. The mine had never been that successful, but in 1876 production reached 13.5 tons of black tin.

By 1876, nearly £7,600 had been spent on new machinery, dressing plant, the tramway, stamps, leats and underground workings. A year later, in 1877 it is thought that the company was restructured as East Vitifer Tin Mining Company Ltd. By 1880, the total expenditure had risen to £9,800 (which is equivalent to an eye watering £1.5 million in 2026). The two adits at this time had been driven 936ft and 924ft for the Birch Tor lode and East Vitifer lodes respectively. Workings were to a depth of 132ft and 22 people were employed. On 17th May 1880, the directors passed a special resolution and the working capital was increased through issuing of more shares.

Operations continued in a haphazard fashion into the 1880s and it is known that the greatest number of men employed in one year at the mine was 27 (25 underground and 2 on surface), which was circa 1881 (Greeves). By 1886, the main lode was abandoned due to low values of ore and by the end of 1887 the Birch Tor lode was also abandoned as it had been worked out. Further attempts were made to open up more lodes to the north, but on 21st July 1890, the mine was wound up.

The mine re-opened briefly, sometime after 1905 but most probably 1909 to 1912-3, when it employed 8 men conducting mainly surface work only. The mine story concludes on 17th February 1915, when machinery and mine effects were put up for auction.

The details in this post would not have been possible without information gleaned from the sources shown in the Bibliography. Special thanks to the Dartmoor Tinworking Research Group (DTRG), notably Tom Greeves and Stephen Holley for their tenacious gathering of information and undoubted enthusiasm for sharing their knowledge

Bibliography

1. D.G. Broughton – (1968) – The Birch Tor and Vitifer Mining Complex
2. Dartmoor Tinworking Research Group – (2026) – walk notes by Stephen Holley (Chairman)
3. Jeremy Butler – (1991) – Dartmoor Antiquities, volume 1 – The East (map 23), page 163
4. Dartmoor Tinworking Research Group – (2015) – Newsletter (Tom Greeves)
5. West Briton – (6th February 1873) – Newspaper record
6. C.Robinson – (2019) – Plymouth Bronze Age to Today
7. Western Times – (15^th February 1915) – Newspaper record
8. Burt et. al – (1984) – The Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom 1845 -1913, Devon and Somerset
9. Stephen Holley (DTRG) – (2026) – Pers. Conv.