Reasons for Designation
Iron has been produced in England from at least 500 BC. The iron industry,
spurred on by a succession of technological developments, has played a major
part in the history of the country, its production and overall importance
peaking with the Industrial Revolution. Iron ores occur in a variety of forms
across England, giving rise to several different extraction techniques,
including open casting, seam-based mining similar to coal mining, and
underground quarrying, and resulting in a range of different structures and
features at extraction sites. Ore was originally smelted into iron in small,
relatively low-temperature furnaces known as bloomeries. These were replaced
from the 16th century by blast furnaces which were larger and operated at a
higher temperature to produce molten metal for cast iron. Cast iron is
brittle, and to convert it into malleable wrought iron or steel it needs to be
remelted. This was originally conducted in an open hearth in a finery forge,
but technological developments, especially with steel production, gave rise to
more sophisticated types of furnaces. A comprehensive survey of the iron and
steel industry has been conducted to identify a sample of sites of national
importance that represent the industry's chronological range, technological
breadth and regional diversity.
The 19th century iron mines on the Brendon Hills are closely related to the
iron industry of South Wales. By 1830 supplies of locally mined ore in South
Wales were becoming exhausted at the very time when demand for wrought iron
rails was increasing as a result of the spread of the railways. It became
economically profitable, at least for a period in the mid- to late 19th
century, to mine the ore in the Brendon Hills and tranship it to South Wales
for smelting.
Burrow Farm mine includes the remains of the only Cornish type beam engine
house surviving on Exmoor. This building, along with the remains of the mine
shaft and the cutting for the West Somerset Mineral Railway alongside it,
provides graphic visible evidence of the impact of the mining industry upon
the landscape. The engine house is open to public view with access provided
by permitted path along the trackbed of the WSMR; information boards explain
the working of the mine.
The remains of the mine are a reminder of the importance of the iron mining
industry of the late 19th century at a time when the British Empire was
exercising great influence world-wide. The monument will retain
archaeological evidence providing technological information about the mining
processes of the period and about the community which grew up around the
mines.
Details
The monument includes the greater part of the ruins, earthworks, and other
remains of Burrow Farm iron mine together with a section of the mineral
railway trackbed adjacent to it.
The mine was one of a number opened on the Brendon Hills in the mid-19th
century to exploit the high quality iron ore lode which, on the Brendons was
workable westwards from Raleigh's Cross mine to Gupworthy and beyond. The
shaft was sunk through extensive earlier surface workings in 1860 and the
extension of the West Somerset Mineral Railway (WSMR) reached it in 1863. The
ore that had been stockpiled was loaded on to the railway for transport to
Watchet and ultimately for transhipment to the South Wales smelting furnaces.
The lode was found to be fickle and the mine closed in 1868 only to be
reopened again in 1879 when a new engine house was constructed using
materials from the engine house at Langham Hill, some 3km to the east, after
operations had ceased there in 1874.
Surviving at Burrow Farm mine is the standing beam engine house constructed
as part of the 1879 initiative. It is a Listed Building Grade II. The engine
house is of `Cornish' type and is the last remaining example on Exmoor. It is
roofless but all four walls, built of local stone and the re-used material
from Langham, stand to a height of about 10m. The circular chimney of the
engine house, which is attached to the north wall, stands to its full height
and is constructed of stone for the lower 10.5m and is then finished in brick
for the upper 4m. The building received some conservation and restoration
work in 1990.
Documentary investigations by the Exmoor Mines Research Group have shown that
the engine was also brought over from Langham Hill. It comprised a 66cm
diameter cylinder with a 2.74m stroke. Two winding drums were set in the
space between the stone `loading' (which supported the flywheel, crank,
clutch and gearing to the south of the engine house) and the massive stone
wall to the west. None of this machinery survives but the stone wall which
supported one end of the drum axles, stands to a height of 4m; it was later
incorporated into a miners' dry which with dimensions of 9m by 5m which was
yet later adapted as a farm building. A horizontal duct through the south
west corner of the engine house allowed a pipe to return condensation to the
reservoir which survives as a sunken earthwork about 30m to the north west of
the engine house. About 30m to the south of the engine house are the
earthwork remains of a spoil heap which surrounded the now infilled main
shaft. Two other shafts, the North Lode shaft which lies 30m north west of
the reservoir, and Gundry's shaft which was sunk in 1866 and lies 230m ESW of
the engine house, are both included in the scheduling, together with some
openwork trenches of unknown date. The scheduling also includes a 330m long
section of the cutting for the West Somerset Mineral Railway which passed
immediately to the north of the mine. Sidings constructed in 1880 reached the
main shaft by the engine house and allowed the ore to be trucked out to the
main line for onward transport to Watchet. The cutting has an average width
throughout its length of 16m.
The mine closed in 1883 but the mineral railway continued in use for a
further 15 years until 1898, providing a mine salvage, light goods and
passenger service between Watchet and Gupworthy to the west.
All gates, fencing, fence posts, fixed information boards, and telegraph
poles are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath all these
features is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
