Plymouth Wheal Yeoland East (Yeolands Consols)

The area between Meavy village and Hoo Meavy along the river was worked for tin in Elizabethan times with perhaps the first tin working being recorded from 1566 (ref: Greeves). Also during the Elizabethan period there were a number of tin mills which were owned by Trayton Drake and Elizabeth Drake and also a William Crymes (husband to Elizabeth), who had many ‘Clash’ (crazing) mills in the area. In fact, there is a written record of the Crymes endeavours from a letter by Sir Walter Raleigh to Sir Robert Cecil, dated 15th November 1600:

“A gentleman, Mr Crymes hath erected certain clash-mylls upon Roburghe Down to work the tynn which upon that place is gott with extreme labour and charge out of the ground. And because of the townsmen of Plymouth seeke to procure all the commonditie thereabouts in their own hands , they allege that these mylls are prejudiciall to them and that course of their water, which runneth through Plymouth is diverted, contrary to a statute” – Raleigh was, of course referring to Plymouth Leat. This was a conflict of interest for Raleigh and he eventually came down on the side of the miners, stating: “I took paines to view the river (Meavy) and mylls.I found that in my opinion they (Plymouth) could not disallow the using or the building of the same for that there are about 200 works which must be unwrought without the benefit of such clash-mylls and that river”.

The early working would have been developed only by adits and shallow shafts. A little under 200 years later, in the late 1840s and into the 1850s, the old workings were being further exploited and there were 3 mines in the area, between the Meavy and Roborough Down, which were each worked separately. The mines were East Wheal Yeoland, South Wheal Yeoland and Yeoland Mine. Between around 1849 and 1852 they known as Plymouth Wheal Yeoland, (South & East) before being amalgamated to become Yeoland Consols in 1852.

This post concentrates on mine adjacent to the Meavy, namely; Plymouth Wheal Yeoland East, which is located below (to the east of) the railway (albeit the railway construction post dates the early years of the mine). All the records and evidence suggests that this venture was worked only at adit level. The adit was known as Deep Adit with the entrance being described (by Dines) as being in the west bank of the River Meavy, opposite Olderwood farm. Deep Adit was also, in fact connected to a Engine Shaft to the west, near Yeoland Farm.

East Yeoland is described by Hamilton-Jenkin as being only lightly developed, apart from a small winze (vertical shaft which does reach the surface) and there were no workings below Deep Adit Level. That said, there are plenty of industrial artefacts to explore – as well as the adit, there are several old Buildings, a cluster of Buddles, a probable Wheelpit and a long ‘cut and cover’ Tail Race. The interpretation of the mine here is quite difficult and it is very likely that the industrial artefacts are from more than one period of operation. Aside the direct evidence from newspaper articles, many of the interpretations are not fully definitive and are those from the author. Any comments on these interpretations would be most welcome.

Bibliography

1. Dr A.K. Hamilton Jenkin (1974), Mines of Devon. Page 59-62
2. Dr T. Greeves (1981), The Devon Tin Industry 1450-1750: An archaeological and historical survey (Post-Graduate Thesis).
3. E. Henry Davies, C. Lockwood and son (1902) – Machinery for Metalliferous Mines – A practical treatise for mining engineers, metallurgists and managers of mines
4. Dr P. Newman (2010), Environment, Antecedent and Adventure: Tin and Copper Mining on Dartmoor, Devon c.1700-1914, 197 (Post-Graduate Thesis).
5. Mining Journal: No.953. Saturday 26^th November 1853 – page 742
6. Devonport Journal extracts (various) – 1849-1852 – Courtesy of Dartmoor Chris and Dr Phil Newman
7. H.G.Dines (1956) The metalliferous mining region of south-west England.
8. Dartmoor Chris – pers. com. and emails