THE LEANING TOWER OF DARTMOOR
by Margret Thomas and Ann Pulsford
WHEAL BETSY, (SX 510812) which has been called ‘The Leaning Tower of Dartmoor’, is an unmissable feature at the side of the A386 road from Tavistock to Okehampton, Devon. It is the last standing engine house on Dartmoor, situated on the steep western side of the Cholwell valley, north of Mary Tavy. The remains of many spoil heaps and water gullies can be seen in the valley close by. Wheal Betsy silver ore was reputedly of high quality and thought to have been smelted locally using peat and charcoal. The ruined engine house, with its seemingly precarious leaning chimney stack was acquired by the National Trust in 1967, made safe and preserved as a heritage memorial to the mining industry of Dartmoor. The Wheal Betsy mine opened around 1740, producing zinc, lead and large amounts of silver. At first the mine was powered by waterwheels but in 1868 the current engine house was erected to accommodate a steam-powered Cornish Beam pumping engine. This powered the water pumping, winding and ore crushing machinery. In 1816 the mine was managed, together with the neighbouring Wheal Friendship mine at Mary Tavy, by John Taylor, a young and talented manager and engineer from Norwich. By 1822 lead and silver ore production had risen to over 100 tons per month, but flooding still hampered the deep mining, which now extended to six levels, the deepest at 70 fathoms. It was in this year that work started on the new engine house to pump out the flooding and make extractions from the deeper levels easier. At this time all ores were processed at the mine using a new extraction process. During the period 1821-1830 Wheal Betsy produced a net income of £102,661.00. Towards the end of this period however, the price of lead dropped drastically, which meant the mine was working at a loss. To make matters worse flooding at the deeper levels was still a severe problem. John Taylor’s answer to the flooding was to drive the nearby Wheal Friendship adit into Wheal Betsy to drain the upper 40 fathoms. Work began on this in 1835, however due to the low price of lead and the huge expenses incurred by the water pumping, the mine continued to run at a loss. But in 1836 the price of lead rose and good profits were forecast. In 1837 a separate company for Wheal Betsy was formed and its association with Wheal Friendship separated. Wheal Betsy was then equipped with
four over-shot wheels to power the water pumping and hoisting and crushing the lead ore. Unfortunately by 1846 the profits were so low it was decided to close the mine.
The mine was re-opened again in 1863 by a Scottish company called Prince Arthur Consols and new equipment installed. Unfortunately, although over 200 tons of lead was extracted the profits did not cover the cost of the new equipment. In 1869 the mine was sold on to another company which worked on the mine on a very small scale until 1877, when finally after 137 years of activity Wheal Betsy was closed. ■
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