CONTENTS PAGE

Details of events, research and work in progess in the field of mining history and archaeology.

• About this site.
• Current Research
• South-West of England
• Wales
• Other Areas
• Conferences
• Resources for Mining History Research
• General Information

ABOUT THIS SITE

• Information on the site.
• Details of the author.
• 'Whats New!'
• Feedback.

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CURRENT RESEARCH

• Silver mining in England and Wales, late medieval and early modern periods - a synopsis of current work.

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SOUTH-WEST ENGLAND

• North Devon
  1. North Devon and Exmoor - Methodology for mining history research; identifying and maintaining the integrity of a fragile mining landscape - available as a Word file.
  2. Exmoor Iron: a historical perspective A presentation to the Archaeology Department Seminar, 21 November 2002.
  3. Exmoor's Industrial Archaeology; a new book covering mining in the National Park area of North Devon and West Somerset.
  4. A List of Mines in North Devon
  5. Anthracite workings
  6. Iron at Georgeham; Spreacombe and the Cleveland Mine.
  7. Gold at North Molton and the surviving evidence to be found on the Bampfylde Mine site, Devon.
  8. 16th / 17th lead-silver smelting at Combe Martin and the evidence for the possible use of coal. A poster presentation made to the 'Metallurgy - a touchstone for cross-cultural interaction' conference at the British Museum 28-30 April 2005 - available as a pdf file.
  9. Coal, Ore and Metals: Coastal Mining Landscapes a paper on the relationship between pre-industrial mining and its coastal location - covering coal in Pembrokshire and metalliferous mining in North Devon - published as part of the COST A27 Action 'Landmarks'.

• South Devon
  1. The medieval silver mines at Bere Ferrers
  2. Les mines du roi anglais en Devon - a presentation given at the University of Toulouse, December 2009, as part of a PICS exchange programme - en francaise - available here as a PDF.
  3. The Lumburn Leat - evidence for new pumping technology at Bere Ferrers in the 15th century.
  4. The Tamar Smelting Works at Weirquay, Bere Ferrers - a unique survival of a 19th lead/silver smelting works.
  5. The distribution and relative size of settlements in Bere Ferrers parish. An analysis of a late 15th century itinerary to provide information on the settlement pattern in relation to mining.
  6. Silver Mining and the English Crown: direct management and leasing of the Devon mines - a paper orginally presented to the International Mining History Congress held at the University of Guanajuato, Mexico, in 1998 and amended in the light of subsequent research. The paper formed the core of a presentation to the Institute of Historical Research Late Medieval Seminar at the University of London, 10 March 2006. Available as a Word document.
  7. The Bere Ferrers Project and the discovery of the Roman fort at Calstock - the search for evidence of early 14th century smelting activity, using geophysical techniques, revealed not only smelting but a hitherto unknown fort under and around the parish church at Calstock. Subsequent evaluation work then revealed that the smelting site was first century AD in date, contemporary with the fort. The story of its discovery was published in Tamar, the journal of the Friends of Morwellham, Issue 30 (2008) - this link will take you to that article in PDF format.
  8. 'View from the other side of the Channel: England s mining response to the silver crisis in the 15th century', in N. Minvielle Larousse, M-Ch. Bailly-Ma tre & G. Bianchi (eds) Les m taux pr cieux en M diterran e m di vale, Collection BIAMA, 27 (co dition du Centre Camille Jullian et des Presses Universitaires de Provence, 2019), 127-136.

• West Somerset
  1. A List of Mines in West Somerset
  2. Eisen Hill and the Germans Were miners from central Europe involved in iron mining at Winsford?

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WALES

• Pembrokeshire
  1. A List of Mines in Pembrokeshire and adjoining parts of Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion.
  2. Llanfyrnach Silver-Lead Mine, near Crymych.
  3. Greenhill Ochre Mine, Haverfordwest.
  4. The charcoal fired blast furnace at Canaston / Blackpool Mill.
  5. Recent conservation work at the Kilgetty Ironworks, near Stepaside, Pembrokeshire.
  6. Rosebush and Bellstone Slate Quarries - description and brief history of the quarries, posted for the benefit of the Welsh Mines Society field meet 20/21 June 2003.
  7. Slate Quarrying in and around Maenclochog- a series of posters prepared for the Maenclochog Heritage display in 2010 - Poster 1 PDF - Poster 2 PDF - Poster 3 PDF - Poster 4 PDF - Poster 5 PDF - Poster 6 PDF
  8. Coal, Ore and Metals: Coastal Mining Landscapes a paper on the relationship between pre-industrial mining and its coastal location - covering coal in Pembrokshire and metalliferous mining in North Devon - published as part of the COST A27 Action 'Landmarks'.

• Carmarthenshire
  1. Carmarthen United; An example of undercapitalisation in a mid 19th century lead venture.
  2. Ogofau Gold Mine; brief account of the site, prepared for the Welsh Mines Society field meet 10-11 June 2000.
  3. Carmarthen Smelting House; a late 18th century lead smelter.

• Ceredigion
  1. Cwmystwyth Mine; response of the Welsh Mines Society to proposed safety work.
  2. Mining Landscapes; A response to the Ceredigion Unitary Development Plan on behalf of the Welsh Mines Society.
  3. The Llanddewibrefi mines; a brief outline of their history, prepared for the Welsh Mines Society field meet 10-11 June 2000.

• See also -
  1. The link to Dave Linton's site documenting the Merioneth Manganese mines.

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OTHER AREAS

1. The Bordley Township Project: Aspects of Human Impact on a Landscape in Craven includes the development of a relative chronology for lead working - 2012 Council for British Archaeology: Yorkshire Group and Peter Claughton. All Rights Reserved. CBA Yorkshire
2. Production and economic impact: Northern Pennine (English) silver in the 12th century, a paper orginally presented to the 6th Internation Mining History Congress, Akabira, Japan, September 2003 - available as a Word file.
3. "New techniques, new sources: The British steel industry and its ore supply, 1850-1950", published in the Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of Paleosiderurgy, (Donostia / San Sebastian, Spain, 2005) pp. 277-290, and available as a Word file. This is a statistically based overview; the prelude to a study of iron mining and quarrying in Britain, which might be expanded as part of a continuing research programme.
4. Dillwyn et le traitement du zinc argentifére de Bretagne - Dillwyn and Co., of Swansea, and the treatment of argentiferous zinc ores from Britanny in the second half of the 19th century (in French) - a paper given to the annual meeting of SAFEMM, the French society for the archaeology of mining and metallurgy, in 2005
5. Sources of silver in the 10th century - an unpublished paper presented to the VIKINGS'97 conference in Tavistock in 1997.
6. Pyrénées-Orientales (France) - Iron mining around the Canigou Massif - Mining in the Mountains a paper presented to the International Mining History Congress in Linares, Spain, in 2016.
7. British Iron and Steel production during the First World War. This was addressed in a presentation to the conference held at the University of St Andrews 20th-22nd June 2018, The Home Front: The United Kingdom 1914-1918. An abstract is available here Iron and Steel: maintaining resources in the face of conflict. and a short podcast is available on YouTube. The presentation was subsequently published in Hew Strachan (ed), The British Home Front and the First World War, Cambridge University Press (2023), pp. 137-152.

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FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES

See the information on the National Association of Mining History Organisations' conferences on their web site (https://www.namho.org/).

See also the Société Archéologique Francaise pour l'Etude des Mines et de la Métallurgie (SAFEMM) listing of forthcoming conferences in France - go to the SAFEMM website and select "Actualités".