Wheal Betsy Mine Engine House
by Richard Brookes
Title
Wheal Betsy Mine Engine House
Artist
Richard Brookes
Medium
Photograph
Description
The iconic Victorian engine house and leaning chimney stack of the Wheal Betsy silver, copper, arsenic, zinc and lead mine. The ruins sit on Kingsett Down above the valley of Cholwell Brook near Mary Tavy in West Devon on the edge of Dartmoor, SW England, UK. It is the last standing engine house on Dartmoor located at Job's Shaft, one of several shafts working the north-south lode for over 1km. The mine opened in 1740 or earlier. Water power (over shot wheels) was used up until circa 1868 when this engine house was built to house a steam powered Cornish beam pumping engine used to pump water from the mine. At this time the mine employed 128 workers. Mine closed 1877. During it's life and under different ownership it has also been known as Prince Arthur Consols and North Wheal Friendship mine. The surrounding area is littered with mining workings and remains such as old shafts, leats, water reservoirs and spoil heaps. Similar buildings survive in neighbouring Cornwall and were immortalised in the Poldark stories by Winston Graham. Many of the old abandoned mines are protected scheduled monuments and areas within the UNESCO Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage site no. 1215. Taken in October. The property is owned by the National Trust.
Uploaded
November 11th, 2016
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