| Digging into Dartmoor's past | |
|  | | Tin miners pose for the camera outside Golden Dagger Mine in around 1912 |
| | You wouldn't think so nowadays, but Dartmoor was once a major mining area.
'Tin Mines and Miners of Dartmoor' by Tom Greeves delves into the moor's rich seams... |
| | | Tin Mines and Miners of Dartmoor
By Tom Greeves
Publishers: Halsgrove (Tiverton)
Pages: 80 (Photos: B&W)
Hardback; Price £12.95
To order, contact: 01884 243242
Dartmoor once boasted several hundred tin mines, and the industry played an important part in the area's economy.
Mining on the moor goes back 800 years - to the mid-12th century, and there were major mines still working up until relatively recent times.
 | | The black dots on the map show where the major mines were (listed below) |
Whole families relied on the mines for their livelihoods - right up until the 20th century.
Even now, you can still see the ruins of old mine workings dotted across the moor.
This history of the rise and fall of Dartmoor tin mining is based on earlier references and by oral accounts from those who worked in the mines or knew people who did.
It gives you a feel for how the miners lived and worked in an altogether different age.
What really brings the history to life are the photos, many of which come from the private collections of miners, families and friends.
As part of the oral history, most of the interviews were carried out in the past 100 years, so the book concentrates on the late 19th and early 20th century.
 | | Tin mining goes back 800 years on Dartmoor |
The mines which archaeologist Greeves focuses on in particular are Eylesbarrow and Whiteworks near Sheepstor; Hexworthy and Gobbett near Hexworthy; Golden Dagger at Postbridge; and Birch Tor and Vitifer - also near Postbridge.
From the evidence available, it would seem that commercial mining ended in the 1930s, when work stopped at the last big mine - Golden Dagger.
It was no longer viable because of the low price of tin, and hopes of it re-opening again were never realised.
The book - which is a revised edition of the first publication in 1986 - gives us a personal account of Dartmoor tin mines and the hardy souls who worked in them, which would otherwise have been lost forever.
Article first published: 5th April 2004
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