WHEAL MARY EMMA

Wheal Mary Emma straddles the Lyd near the moorland tract of High Down and was originally worked by the ‘old men’ for alluvial tin, before in several places being developed with pits and opencast excavations drained by a shallow adit. Cassiterite can be found in a granite hosted matrix on one side of the river and in a dark metamorphosed tourmaline rich killas on the other side (ref: Mindat.org). The mine is located a short distance downstream from the Captain Hunter memorial at Black Rock for those wishing to visit.

The ‘modern’ mine was begun by Stephen Paull of Crowndale in 1849 and was named after his daughter Mary Emma who was 10 years old at the time. One of the first recorded references of the mine was in the Mining Journal dated 4^th October 1849, stating : “two lodes have been found, standing 40fm apart and thought likely to form a junction about 160fm to the west. In a sink put down to a depth of 5ft below the old men’s adit, one of the lodes was 20in wide and yielded some cassiterite ¼ to ½ inch in size. Payable values were also found in a lead-bearing cross course, a deeper adit was started to test the ore bodies 10fm beneath the old men’s workings. As the surface of the ground rose steeply to the west it was estimated that by driving 60fm the level would gain backs of nearly 30fm deep”. There are two shafts shown on 19^th century maps on the west bank of the Lyd which might well have been sunk in the early days of the ‘modern’ mine. 

By January 1850, an Engine Shaft had been commenced on the course of the lode to below the shallow adit level. On 1^st May in the same year, after a delay, a 40ft waterwheel with 8 head of stamps was made operational with the wheel having been bought second hand for £55. By August, the miners had reached a cross-course at the top of the slope and were being paid 50s per fm and although there had been problems with setting up the dressing floor, they had 2 tons of tin ready for market. By 1851, the mine was stated to be just paying cost. The sett at that time was recorded as being ¾ mile east-west and 2 miles north-south. Of the two lodes, the north lode contained some copper ore with the south lode producing the tin across an expected 8ft wide course. In May 1851, a recommendation was made to sink a new Engine Shaft, between the two lodes so as to allow access to both lodes without the need for expensive cross-cuts. The expectation was to sink a shaft below the deep adit level . In 1851, tin was sold to the value of £100.

In February 1852, under the supervision of Mining Captain James Carpenter, a ‘Tindall’s Shaft’ is recorded, which was the (original) Engine Shaft. From this shaft there is a distinct ‘V’ shaped gully for flatrods leading down to the waterwheel. The directors were informed that the ‘rods will be erected forthwith and further sinking on the shaft will continue’. With mention of stamps and flatrods, the 40ft wheel appears to have been used for both stamping and pumping. The new licence issued in 1852 had been granted to three merchants from London and the sett was stated as being bounded by River Lyd to the south and east, by enclosed lands of Lydford to the west and by a rivulet called Lake to the north. On 25^th June 1853, in a meeting chaired by George Tindal (possibly the same person whose name was given to the Engine Shaft), there appears to have been some hint of a problem where the shareholders were written to demanding amounts due from them, else within 14 days they would default the shares ‘to be absolutely forfeited for the benefit of the company’. Of note is that there was a ‘Lane’s Engine Shaft’ recorded during the mine’s working life, but it is not clear precisely whether this is the main Engine Shaft (Tindall’s) renamed. 1853 seems to have been a fallow year with only £25 of tin sold and a year later in 1854, the mine was sold realising £210.

In 1856, a new licence was granted to William Doble and Joseph Matthews of Tavistock, with an extension to the limits of the sett, now to include the east side of the Lyd. In the December of the same year what is described as ‘several men’ were employed at the mine. By June 1857, 4 men were employed which increased to 13 by the December (6 underground and 7 at surface). At this time a small tramway was employed for conveying ore from adit level. In 1858, a shaft had been sunk on the east side of the Lyd and had reached 12fms below surface, 2fms under adit, with both copper and tin being exploited by the 14 men employed. With this information we can conclude, there were at least 4 shafts, 3 on the western side of the river, and at least 1 on the east side… although there is evidence of many other trial shafts and another away from the main mine to the west near the modern day car park.

In January 1859, a W.Goldsworthy recorded that: “The shaftsmen continue cutting trip-plat. In the 58 east we have driven on the course of the lode about 12 feet….driving at 55s per fm. In the 46 west, we are still cutting in south through capels, in hopes of meeting better ground for driving”. (Note: One assume 58 east and 46 west refers to the horizontal workings of the mine). 5 men were employed in the January of 1859 and by May of the Engine Shaft was 22fms from surface with the shaft being 10ft x 6ft. By July improvements were recorded on the 58fm level with the lode in the east with 2 ½ tons per fm. Towards the end of 1859, 12 men were employed including a Blacksmith.

On 10^th May 1860 there is a record that 6 miners and 3 labourers were driving the 12 fathom level with there  being a total of 12 men including the blacksmith working. On 26^th July 1861, the accounts for the three months ending May 1861, showed the mine had a debit balance. That said, optimism prevailed and Captain W. Doble reported they had broken “some fine tons of tin in a pit opened on the back of the lode by a large cross-cut course” and was “convinced there would be a fine lode of tin there for a great length”. No doubt this optimism was for the benefit of shareholders. In 1862 there were 5640 shares and 10 men were employed

The beginning of the end appears to have been around 1864 when a list of materials for sale appeared on a winding up order. The items included a 40ft. wheel (wood) and iron axle, 8 head stamps, 20 sets of railway iron, an iron tram waggon, 40 in. smith’s bellows, round and clearing buddles plus 3 winze kibbles. In spite of the sale, in 1871, the waterwheel is known still to have been at the mine.

After 1864, the mine continued to be worked spasmodically under different company’s and it was known as owned by North Dartmoor Consols in 1872. The last license to work the mine was granted from 5 August 1887 for 1 year – Rent £5 p/a – Dues 1/20th – Deposit £10. However, in a letter July 1888, it was suggested that ‘no workings have taken place since the license had been granted’. The last licence was granted to Charles Harry Le Mortimer McIntosh of Brixton.

Bibliography:

1. Hamilton Jenkin (Mines of Devon)
2. Mining Journals (various)
3. Dr Phil Newman The Tinworking Landscape of Dartmoor in a European Context..(2017) . pp34-35
4. Dr Tom Greeves – Devonshire Association – Industrial Archaeology Section notes from September 1971
5. Dartmoor Chris pers conv and emails