Ivy Tor Mine

Overview

A small copper, bismuth and arsenic mine on the south bank of the River Taw below Belstone, opened in the 1840s and taken into the Belstone Consols sett in 1866, after which it worked as Taw River Mine and then Prince of Wales Mine.

History

Ivy Tor Mine was started in the 1840s, when an adit driven into the hillside on the south bank of the River Taw, about a quarter of a mile south-west of Belstone Mine, found lodes carrying mispickel (arsenopyrite), bismuth and copper ore. A shaft was sunk in 1845 to work them, and by 1865 the mine was 42 fathoms deep. In 1866 it was taken into the neighbouring Copper Hill sett, later Belstone Consols, and renamed Taw River Mine; in 1878, the year Belstone passed to the Mid Devon Mining Company, its name changed again, to the Prince of Wales Mine. No output figures survive for it under any of its names, and no separate closure date has been found. A search of the south bank of the Taw for its remains in 2017 turned up little.

Geology

Lodes carrying mispickel (arsenopyrite), bismuth and copper ore; axinite, bismuthinite, chalcopyrite and marcasite are recorded from the mine.

Workings

An adit driven into the hillside in the 1840s, followed by a shaft sunk in 1845 that had reached 42 fathoms by 1865.

Closure

No separate closure date has been found; after 1866 the mine was worked as part of the Belstone Consols sett, which closed in 1891.

What remains

Little of the mine was found on the south bank of the Taw during a 2017 search.

Little is recorded as surviving.

Related mines

• Belstone 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.

Nearby mines

• Belstone Mine — 1.2 km NE
• Ramsley Mine — 2.5 km E
• Meldon Quarry — 6.2 km W
• Golden Dagger Mine — 13.9 km S
• Vitifer Mine (Birch Tor and Vitifer) — 14.7 km S

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

Recorded claims

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

• The mine began in the 1840s with an adit that found mispickel, bismuth and copper lodes; a shaft was sunk in 1845 and the mine was 42 fathoms deep by 1865. ¹
• In 1866 the mine was incorporated into Belstone Consols and renamed Taw River Mine, and in 1878 it became the Prince of Wales Mine; no output records survive. ¹
• In 1866 the Copper Hill (Belstone) sett incorporated the nearby Ivy Tor mine. ²
• A 2017 detour to look for remains of Ivy Tor Mine on the south bank of the Taw found little. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Ivy Tor Mine, Devon (Mining in Devon database) — Devon in Focus
2. (secondary) An Exploration of Belstone Consols Sett (Great Copper Hill Mine) — Dartmoor Explorations
3. (secondary) Belstone Mine, North Dartmoor — Pegasus Caving Club

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