Belstone Mine

Overview

Belstone Mine, worked for copper on North Dartmoor from 1829 to 1891 under a succession of names -- Sticklepath Hill Mine, Belstone Consols, Great Copper Hill Mine -- once drove its pumps with a 70-foot waterwheel, among the largest ever erected on mainland Britain, painted bright red and notorious for terrifying passing horses.

History

Belstone Mine, near the village of Sticklepath on North Dartmoor, was worked for copper from 1829 to 1891 under a succession of names: Sticklepath Hill Mine, Belstone Consols, Great Copper Hill Mine, and finally the Mid-Devon Mining Company. Work began in 1829 when a local company, mainly farmers, drove an adit that intersected several favourable copper lodes, returning some 38 tons of ore before running out of funds for machinery and being abandoned. The sett was later renamed Copper Hill, and by 1865 four mineralised lodes had been developed; in 1866 the operation absorbed the neighbouring Ivy Tor mine. Production continued until 1878, when a breakdown in the pumping machinery brought the mine under new ownership as the Mid Devon Mining Company, trading from then on as the Great Copper Hill Mine; it closed for good in 1891. As Belstone it had raised 1,287 tons of copper ore at about 10¼ per cent between 1867 and 1877, and as Mid Devon Mine a further 1,833 tons at about 9¼ per cent between 1878 and 1891, with small amounts of arsenopyrite in 1875 and 1884. The mine's defining feature was its waterwheel, built around 1878 to solve its drainage problem: at roughly 70 feet in diameter it was believed to be the second-largest ever erected in Britain, behind only the 72.5-foot Lady Isabella wheel at Laxey on the Isle of Man. Painted bright red, it was said to be an object of such terror to horses that it was almost impossible to ride or drive past it. The wheel drew water along a leat roughly 1.75 miles long from the River Taw, and drove the mine's pumps through around 2,000 feet of 2.5-inch Swedish steel flat rods. After the mine's 1891 closure the wheel fell into decay and was eventually broken up for scrap at Finch's Foundry in Sticklepath during the First World War. Belstone lies just east of the Sticklepath Fault, within a narrow band of mineralised Carboniferous Lower Culm measures on the fringe of the Dartmoor granite; the fault itself runs from Torbay, through Sticklepath, to the Cockington Beds near Bideford. Movement along it displaced the same lode system worked at the neighbouring Ramsley Mine, carrying the Greenhill section north and the Ramsley section south by around 2,000 yards -- the reason the two setts, though geologically part of the same deposit, lie so far apart on the surface today.

Geology

Copper-bearing lodes within the Carboniferous Lower Culm measures on the eastern fringe of the Dartmoor granite, displaced from the Ramsley Mine deposit by around 2,000 yards of movement along the Sticklepath Fault.

Workings

An adit and several shafts (Main and Inclined) worked across four lodes by 1865, absorbing the neighbouring Ivy Tor mine in 1866; pumped from around 1878 by a 70-foot waterwheel driving roughly 2,000 feet of flat rods, supplied by a 1.75-mile leat from the River Taw.

Closure

Closed in 1891 after operating as the Great Copper Hill Mine under the Mid Devon Mining Company, which had taken over following a 1878 pumping-machinery breakdown. The national mine plans catalogue holds later-dated plans under the names Devon New (formerly Belstone), 1893, and Belstone Consols, 1907, which may record trials after 1891 not described elsewhere.

What remains

The wheelpit survives but infilled and overgrown, its stonework in poor condition; an overgrown ridge-like tip marks the Main and Inclined shafts, and sections of the leat remain traceable as footpaths. The site is on private land but visible from nearby footpaths.

The infilled wheelpit, a spoil tip over the Main and Inclined shafts, a small auxiliary building (compressor and drill-tempering hearth), inscribed boundary stones along the Taw, and traceable sections of the leat.

Related mines

• Ivy Tor Mine — Incorporated into the Copper Hill (Belstone Consols) sett in 1866 and worked with it as Taw River Mine and later Prince of Wales Mine.
• Ramsley Mine — The same copper lode system, displaced from Ramsley's own deposit by around 2,000 yards of movement along the Sticklepath Fault; named directly in Ramsley Mine's own sourced history as its geologically paired mine.

Nearby mines

• Ivy Tor Mine — 1.2 km SW
• Ramsley Mine — 2.2 km E
• Meldon Quarry — 7.0 km W
• Golden Dagger Mine — 14.8 km S

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The national mine plans catalogue lists abandonment plans titled 'Devon New (formerly Belstone)' (copper and arsenical pyrites, 1893) and 'Belstone Consols' (copper ore, 1907), later than the 1891 closure given elsewhere. (uncertain) ^5,6

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Belstone Mine operated from 1829 to 1891 under multiple names: Sticklepath Hill Mine, Belstone Consols, Great Copper Hill Mine and Mid-Devon Mining Company. The 70-foot diameter waterwheel, built around 1878 for pumping, ranked among Britain's largest, second only to the Lady Isabella wheel at Laxey Mine on the Isle of Man at 72.5 feet; painted bright red, it was an object of such terror to horses that it was almost impossible to ride or drive past it. A leat roughly 1.75 miles long conveyed water from the River Taw, and 2,000 feet of 2.5-inch Swedish steel flat rods transmitted power to the pumps. ¹
• Work began in 1829 under the name Sticklepath Hill Mine, when a local farming company drove an adit intersecting several copper lodes, returning 38 tons of ore before funds for machinery ran out. By 1865 four lodes had been developed; in 1866 the mine incorporated the neighbouring Ivy Tor mine. Production continued until 1878 when the pumping machinery broke down and the Mid Devon Mining Company took over, trading as the Great Copper Hill Mine until closure in 1891. ²
• As Mid Devon Mine, 1878-1891, 1,833 tons of 9.25% copper ore was raised; as Belstone, 1867-1877, 1,287 tons of 10.25% copper ore were raised. Workings included Main Lode, No.1 North Lode and No.2 North Lode, worked via Main (Copper Hill) Shaft and Inclined Shaft. In 1875, 14 tons of arsenopyrite were produced, and in 1884, 21 tons. ³
• Ramsley Mine's North, Middle and South lodes are the same mineralised beds worked at Belstone Mine, displaced by about 2,000 yards through movement on the Sticklepath Fault. ⁴
• The national mine plans catalogue lists abandonment plans titled 'Devon New (formerly Belstone)' (copper and arsenical pyrites, 1893) and 'Belstone Consols' (copper ore, 1907), later than the 1891 closure given elsewhere. (uncertain) ^5,6

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Belstone Mine, North Dartmoor — Pegasus Caving Club
2. (secondary) An Exploration of Belstone Consols Sett (Great Copper Hill Mine) — Dartmoor Explorations
3. (secondary) Mining in Devon Database: Belstone Consols Mine — Mining in Devon Database
4. (secondary) Ramsley Mine (Gerald Bastable) — South Tawton and District Local History Group
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue: Devon New (formerly Belstone) — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue: Belstone Consols — British Geological Survey

Record created: 16 September 2026 · Last researched: 17 September 2026