The Tamar Valley Mining District
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[location map]
[historic landscapes]
[WHS GIS mapping] |
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The mines of this district worked an important group of tin and
copper lodes whose outcrops can be traced from
Callington and Kit
Hill eastwards to the fringes of Dartmoor, crossing the Tamar
Valley between Luckett and
Calstock and centred on the settlement
of
Gunnislake. Devon Great Consols and Bedford United to the east
of the Tamar and
Drakewalls and Gunnislake Clitters to the west
were the most important mines at the heart of this area, but other
successful groups of mines were worked around Kit Hill and to the
south of Tavistock, with a detached group on the western flanks of
Dartmoor at Mary Tavy. The mines of the Bere Alston peninsula,
which worked north-south aligned silver lead lodes and which are
amongst the earliest documented in the south-west, are another
important component of this mining district.
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| Most of the land flanking the Tamar Valley has long been
cultivated and settled, and for this reason, mining appears at
first glance to have little impact on the landscape. Patterns of
land ownership have also had a bearing on this, most particularly
in Devon, where one large estate controlled some of the most
significant sites, and the reversion clause laid on the
shareholders of Devon Great Consols by the Duke of Bedford ensured
the clearance of almost all its buildings within months of its
closure, to be followed by the cloaking of the site in conifers.
The isolated chimneys, occasional
ruined engine house or the revegetated mine dumps scattered through this predominantly
agricultural landscape are only part of the story, and the wooded
slopes of the Tamar and Tavy hide the remains of once famous
sites, including, of course, Devon Great Consols, for a few years
the most spectacular mine in the whole of south-west Britain.
The east and west of the district are, in many ways, quite
distinct from one another. The mining landscape on the Cornish
side of the Tamar has much in common with other areas of the
county - particularly around and to the south of Kit Hill, where
mines developed in open moorland or within unenclosed land
flanking Hingston Down.
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| Although relict medieval field
systems can be seen away from the ridge, as for instance at Harrowbarrow,
Metherell or Latchley, most of the fieldscape is plainly of recent
origin, and within this zone, the cottages are typical of mining
districts elsewhere in Cornwall and are generally clustered
together in rows, often in small hamlets. To the east of the
Tamar, farms tend to be large and there are few settlements. Tavistock
itself is unlike any town within the Cornish mining district. The
dramatic remodelling of much of the medieval town by the 7th Duke
of Bedford during the mid-19th century was achieved with profits
from his mines, whilst a substantial proportion of the mining
workforce was housed in model cottages built within the town, at
the mines and across his estate
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| The Tamar unites the two areas and has served as an essential
means of communication and transport for many centuries, though
the quays which lined its banks proved inadequate to deal with the
volume of traffic created during the 19th century, and both
Calstock and Morwellham were developed as industrial ports with
rail links to mine sites. An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) covering much of
the Tamar Valley, including many significant mines, settlements,
former mineral railways and quays was established in 1994 and
enables the strategic and appropriate management of this area (http://www.tamarvalley.org.uk/new/).
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Places to Visit
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Morwellham
and Tamar Valley Trust - An award-winning, evocative museum
and visitor centre based around the historic port and mine
workings on the River Tamar.
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Dartmoor
National Park Authority - Dartmoor was designated one of the
National Parks of England and Wales in 1951. It is a beautiful
moorland landscape with wooded valleys and wind swept Tors
covering 368 square miles (953 sq. km.) in area.
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Tamar Valley Tourism Association
- The Tamar Valley is an area rich in beauty and history,
possessing some of the finest scenery in the West Country. The
Estuary is an important haven for wildlife, such as the avocet and
little egret. The valley of the river Tamar - and its tributaries,
the Tavy and Lynher - is designated as an Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty. |
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