Yarner Copper Mine

Overview

A short-lived but productive Dartmoor copper mine, also known as Yarrow Mine, worked 1857-1865 with two waterwheel-powered shafts before being absorbed into the adjacent Devon Frances Mine; its collapsed engine house survives in Yarner Wood.

History

Yarner Copper Mine, also recorded as Yarrow Mine, was worked in Yarner Wood near Bovey Tracey from 1857 to 1865, via two shafts reaching some 50 fathoms (around 300 feet) deep, and producing roughly 2,300 tons of copper ore over its working life. The mine was powered by two waterwheels, one of them 40 feet in diameter, fed by a leat dug in the 1840s that ran from Becky Falls through Yarner and on to supply the Bovey Tracey Pottery Company further downstream. Around 1865-66 the mine was acquired by the adjacent Devon Frances (or Francis) Mine, and working may have continued under that name until as late as 1872. The site's most striking remaining feature is the ruined engine house, whose chasm was significantly enlarged in February 1978, when a shaft cap some 50 feet down collapsed during a severe rainstorm, forcing debris out through a side adit.

Geology

Copper in Yarner Wood near Bovey Tracey; the lode is not named on the record.

Workings

Two waterwheel-powered shafts, one wheel 40 feet in diameter, fed by a leat dug in the 1840s from Becky Falls; produced around 2,300 tons of copper ore in seven years.

Closure

Worked independently 1857-1865, then acquired by the adjacent Devon Frances Mine around 1865-66, possibly continuing under that name until as late as 1872.

What remains

A ruined engine house survives, its chasm enlarged by a 1978 shaft-cap collapse; the main shaft (around 5 metres in diameter) is blocked some 3 metres below the surface, with a spoil heap and possible balance-beam walls also surviving. The area is fenced off as dangerous.

A ruined, collapsed engine house, a blocked main shaft, a spoil heap and walls possibly associated with a balance beam.

Recorded claims

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

• Yarner Copper Mine produced around 2,300 tons of copper ore over seven years (1857-1865), worked via two shafts around 50 fathoms deep and powered by two waterwheels, one 40 feet in diameter. ¹
• A shaft cap around 50 feet down collapsed during a severe rainstorm in February 1978, enlarging the engine house chasm and forcing debris out through a side adit. ¹
• Yarner Copper Mine is located in Yarner Wood, Bovey Tracey, Teignbridge, Devon. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Yarner Copper Mine and Yarner Woods environs — Dartmoor Explorations
2. (secondary) Yarner Copper Mine, Bovey Tracey, Teignbridge, Devon — Mindat

Record created: 1 September 2026 · Last researched: 1 September 2026