TANKERVILLE MINE
History
The mineral rights of the Tankerville area were in
joint ownership and all leases were jointly granted by the Earl of Tankerville
and the Lloyd family. There is no record of any early mining in the area and the
surface of the mine site is shown on old maps as a farm up to the 19th century.
The area was being drained by the Boat Level in 1797 but it is not known if any
lead deposits had been discovered and were being worked at that time. The
earliest known mining at Tankerville was by Walker, Cross & Company from
the 1830s, when the mine operated under the name of Oven Pipe. The company's
main activities were at Bog and Pennerley, however, and there was very little
investment at this site, other than a crosscut called Oven Pipe Level which had
been driven from the Boat Level to work a small pipe vein on Old Lode.
Between 1860-63, Fred Jones & Company
worked the mine and they had engaged Captain Arthur Waters as manager. In 1862,
he referred to the workings in a letter to John Horton :
"... I found Oven Pipe Mine in the same
position three years ago as the above named mines are today, but by a system of
cross-cutting found a deposit of lead ore that, since its discovery, has
yielded about £16,000 worth and that without sinking the Engine Pit an inch ...
We are now sinking the shaft as a matter of course, having a rich lode to go
down upon".
The deposit referred to must be Old Lode and
Waters had presumably found both pipes on it from trial crosscuts. On the basis
of lead being worth about £20 per ton at that time, about 800 tons must have
been produced from 1860. During this time, Heighway Jones of the Bog &
Pennerley Company was working several adjacent mines and he realised the
potential of Oven Pipe Mine. In 1864, he sold his interest in Pennerley and Myttonsbeach
Mines and bought Oven Pipe, where he then concentrated his activities. Waters
was retained as manager and the new Oven Pipe Company acquired several other
mines, ie Potters Pit and Burgam from 1866 and Batholes and Roundhill from
1868. Probably due to the acquisition of these extra mines, the name of the
company was changed to West Tankerville Mining Company from 1869.
As Ovenpipe Shaft was sunk below adit level,
the new workings had to be pumped dry and the depth was probably beyond the
capability of the old horse gin. As a result, Waters erected a small
ex-colliery engine 30 yards from the shaft which raised the ore, operated the
pump rods and powered the roller crushers. It was a 16" beam engine of 16
horsepower and 3ft 6" stroke. Ovenpipe Shaft was deepened to the 74 fathom
level, being vertical to 70ft below adit (214ft from surface) and then running
at an angle of 15(. The reason for the change in angle was to allow the shaft
to follow the direction of Old Lode. This meant that ore extracted during the
sinking paid for the costs but it caused problems later with winding and
pumping. Levels were driven into Old Lode down to the 74 fathom level and the
ore stoped out.
Waters continued to drive exploratory levels
from the shaft and one of these, driven south from the 42 fathom level,
discovered the top of Main Lode. Other exploratory levels were driven and these
proved that the lode extended downwards at 40( and continued to be very rich.
Crosscuts from Ovenpipe Shaft allowed the Main Lode to be removed above the 74
fathom level but it was decided not to deepen the shaft since it would move
further and further away from Main Lode. At this stage, there was still no
indication as to how far the Main Lode would continue but hopes were obviously
high.
A description in the Mining Journal early in
1870 describes how the mine was working at that time. Ovenpipe Shaft was used
for both raising the material and for the pumps, and access to the levels was
by way of ladders in the pumping portion of the shaft. There were about 50
miners employed at the mine, split into three eight hour shifts working round
the clock. The steam engine raised ore from 6am to 2pm, drove the ore crushers
from 2pm to 5pm and pumped the mine from 5pm to 6am. Pumping was done by four
lifting sets of pumps from the 74 fathom level, the lowest having a 7"
diameter and the others slightly larger. There was also a 'forcing set' from
the Boat Level to the surface, used to supply water for the dressing floors
when surface water was scarce.
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Surface area |
Bob pit |
The lead ore was raised in a kibble attached to a
single linked chain and slid up deal planks in the inclined portion of the
shaft. The ore was worked downwards in stopes of 6ft from one level to the next,
with the higher level being boarded up for a tramway. The ores from the lower
level were raised to the upper level by windlasses and taken by tramway to be
loaded into the kibble at the shaft.
On the surface, the ore was crushed in
roller crushers powered by the steam engine. It was then placed on a rotary
screen and the larger pieces were gathered together by brushes on a rotating
horizontal wheel, to be sent back through the crushers until small enough for
the next phase of the operation. This took place in four jigging machines,
sieves worked up and down in water by hand labour, that separated the heavier
lead from the spar and stone waste. It was then washed in flat buddles, put
through jiggers with finer sieves and finally into rotary buddles. The lead was
then ready to be sent to the smelter at Pontesford by horse and cart. On the
return journey, the carts brought back coal for the boilers from the Pontesbury
Coalfield.
From the bottom of Ovenpipe Shaft, a
crosscut ran along the 74 fathom level to Main Lode and an internal shaft was
begun down the angle of the lode. By the beginning of 1870, this had reached
the 92 fathom level. Since these workings would need to be pumped, there must
have been a system of flat rods along the 74 fathom crosscut to operate pumps
in the new underground shaft. Water was presumably pumped up to the crosscut
and directed to the sump of the Ovenpipe Shaft. Although it was easy to work
ore in the lode, it had to be wound up the internal shaft in kibbles, taken by
wheelbarrow along the crosscut and then wound up Ovenpipe Shaft using the small
winding engine. This was a very inefficient system and it was found that the
maximum amount that could be removed was about 50 tons per month. This did not
satisfy Waters who believed that it was possible to extract 300 tons per month
if a new shaft was sunk from surface directly onto the workings.
Heighway Jones could not afford this scheme
himself so, in 1870, a joint stock company called the Tankerville Mining
Company was formed with £72,000 capital. The company bought out Heighway Jones'
interest in the mine in February 1870 and the names on the official lease were
Messrs Murchison, Geach, Watson, Grundy and Mitchell. The share issue was so
popular that it was oversubscribed, with 12,000 £6 shares being offered at £20
within a few days. The price soon increased to £30 as early profits rose
sharply, a dividend of £3,000 being paid within four months. In May 1870, the
mine was renamed Tankerville in honour of the Earl of Tankerville. At that
time, Waters claimed that "the mine is unquestionably one of the greatest,
if not the greatest, lead producing lodes in
During 1870, the underground shaft was
extended from the 52 to the 102 fathom level and a high pressure Fowler engine
was installed underground at the 74 fathom level for winding purposes as
sinking continued. It had 190 fathoms of wrought iron chimney installed via
Ovenpipe Shaft to remove the fumes from the boiler. In 1871 a start was made on
sinking the new shaft from surface and a further three engines of 6, 25 and 60
horsepower were installed at surface. At least one of these was probably for
ore crushing, etc but the larger one probably replaced the old engine for
winding and pumping in Ovenpipe Shaft. This engine may have been housed in the
small engine house adjacent to the top of Watsons Engine Shaft. This has the
marks of a large winding drum on its internal surface and slots in the north
wall. A photograph of around that period shows the winding cable running from
this engine house to Ovenpipe Shaft. The old engine house was probably
relegated to operating the dressing machinery only.
At the end of 1871, Waters reported that the
"mine throughout continues to maintain its high character for
productiveness and had never in its history shown such indications of
permanency". A local press report said "the rich and profitable mine
of Tankerville is second in importance only to Snailbeach, two miles to the
north-east".
According to the Mining Journal, " the
extraordinary richness of the Tankerville Lead Mine is so well known that it is
needless to dilate on it here".
The new shaft was called Watsons Engine
Shaft after Peter Watson, one of the new partners who was also a director of
Devon Great Consols Mine. By 1872, some ore was being crushed and stored
underground in anticipation of the opening up of the new shaft. A letter to the
Mining Journal in 1872 gives some indication of the costs of sinking the shaft.
A gang of 12 men was employed with each man earning £1 per week. In a month,
the cost of drill steels, powder, fuse, candles, etc was £12, making a total
charge of £60 per month for the gang. If the gang was paid on contract at £20
per fathom sunk, they would need to sink 3 fathoms per month to cover costs. In
a 12ft x 9ft shaft, this would remove 9 cubic fathoms of ore at 20 tons per
fathom, giving a yield of 180 tons per month. Lead ore was selling at £13 per
ton at that time.
In February 1873, Waters commented that
"the weather is very severe, but by sending the hot water from the
condenser through our various dressing appliances, we get on very well
preparing the ore for market". Despite the weather, the new shaft was
progressing well, so it can be presumed that the connection had already been
made by then. The new shaft was vertical to the 52 fathom level (226ft below
surface) and it then followed the angle of Main Lode downwards at 38(. A
32" engine of 25 horsepower was installed for winding in Watsons Engine
Shaft and the big chimney probably dates from this time, serving this engine
first and later being used for the Cornish pumping engine. An interesting
statistic from that year's Annual General Meeting stated that 27,000 cubic feet
of masonry, weighing 1,600 tons, had been used to construct the engine houses.
It was also mentioned that Lewis' Shaft and Ovenpipe Shaft had been
re-timbered, with new ladders and pitwork installed in the latter. The
underground Fowler engine had become redundant and was removed.
The new 32" engine was also intended
for pumping and work was underway to fit new pitwork in the shaft. A crosscut
to the Boat Level was made half way down the vertical section of the shaft for
the pumped water to flow away. In April 1873, the carpenters were preparing a
new balance bob, main rods, etc for pumping in the shaft and it was intended to
send down the new pitwork in the near future. By May 1873, all the bobs were
ready, the plunger lifts were waiting on the ground and the main pumping rods
were to hand. It can therefore be presumed that the new pumps were working by
the end of 1873. The vertical motion of the pump rods had to be converted into
angular motion at 500ft below surface, where the shaft changed direction to
follow the vein. This was achieved with great difficulty and there was considerable
wear and tear on the pitwork. Various designs of rods with links, guides,
wheels, etc were tried. A great deal of money had been invested in equipment
and Waters claimed that Tankerville was only in its infancy and the best days
were yet to come.
The angle of the shaft not only caused
problems with the pump rods but even more so with the kibbles. The monthly bill
for replacing timber kibble guides in the shaft was said to be about £200. The
kibbles used, according to the Mining Journal, took 17cwt and even the bulk of
Peter Watson himself. Waters replaced the chains on the winding engines with
wire ropes, which weighed a lot less and thus saved fuel. In May 1873, after
introducing wire rope on Watsons Engine Shaft, Waters said "we do not consume
more than half the quantity of coal required to wind with a chain".
By 1874, the shaft had reached 190 fathoms
below adit and John Smitham was appointed as mine agent to assist Waters. The
latter said that the mine was "at last in full swing, despite a drop in
lead output due mainly to the amount of work connected with sinking the new
shaft. The mine is well-managed and well-equipped and has splendid machinery
and general plant for winding, pumping, crushing and dressing". Lack of
surface water for ore dressing was still a problem, Waters arranged for water
to be pumped up from the Boat Level and yet the following year he was
complaining about the heavy rains which stopped surface working! He continued
to issue encouraging reports to the shareholders, saying "there is a great
future in the mine and he had never seen finer rocks of solid ore".
It was found, however, that the Main Lode
was thinning out with depth and there was increased water in the lower
workings. This increased costs and, possibly as a result, in 1875 the company
acquired limited liability as Tankerville Mining Co Ltd. The existing pumping
engine could not cope with the water and work was started on a new engine house
on the other side of the shaft in September 1875. Despite delays due to bad
weather, Waters reported in November 1875 that "the new engine house is up
to the spring beams, the latter, together with the girder, being in their
place. The engine is on the mine and the boiler, with fittings attached, in the
house". By the following January the beam of the new pumping engine was
lifted into its place.
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Surface area |
Enginehouse area |
Bob fittings |
Alterations were required to the underground
pitwork for the new pumping engine and, in summer 1876, Waters reported that
"we are getting on well with the engine, the changing of the pit-work,
etc, and shall be ready to commence pumping for good with them by the time
appointed". The 40" Cornish pumping engine from Harveys Foundry at
Hayle was ready for work and connected to the pumps in the first week of
August, allowing Waters to announce that it was working splendidly and all the
difficulties with respect to drainage were over. By December 1876, he stated
that "the new pumping engine drains the entire mine, old and new workings
throughout". Waters indicated that only one new boiler was required for
the engine, presumably the Galloway boiler which was eventually sold by
auction. The other one, a Cornish boiler, may have been for the 32"
engine, which was restricted to winding only after the new engine was started
up.
In September 1876, the usual shortage of
surface water caused Waters to comment that "we have been much put to for
want of water for several weeks past but a favourable change has taken place
and the dressing can now go without delay". The pump on Ovenpipe Shaft was
presumably still working to bring water up to surface from the Boat Level at
times of shortage.
At Watsons Engine Shaft, a machine kibble
was installed down to the 180 fathom level. This may have been a skip, a method
which was used in Cornish inclined shafts to increase the speed of loading. At
the top of the shaft, ore was transferred to one of the six adjacent ore bins,
all of which had a grating to prevent large lumps passing through. Of the lumps
left on top, pure ore was removed for sale, waste rock thrown away and mixtures
of the two would be broken up by sledge hammer to a size that would pass
through the grating. From here the ore would go roller crushers and pass
through the same dressing processes as previously described. It was originally
intended to extend the Snailbeach District Railway in the 1870s to Bog Mine and
this would have bypassed Tankerville. In the event, it only reached Crowsnest
to the north and all ore still had to be transported by horse and cart to the
smelter at Pontesbury.
Waters was still encouraging the
shareholders with comments like in 1876 "no finer specimen of a Shropshire
lead vein can be found anywhere in the district" and in 1877 "they
were mining a champion lode well charged with ore - the 192 fathom level".
In that year the mine doctor, William Eddowes, retired and the agents and
miners raised £3.18.0d towards his testimonial. There were two dressing floors
at the mine and, in November 1877, Waters reported that he hoped to have new
machinery installed on the lower dressing floors by the end of the month. This
included new machine jiggers, classifiers and round buddles which indicates
that he had mechanised the dressing process for greater efficiency. Even so,
the surface operations were reliant on the weather and in December 1878,
"the frost was so great that for some days the ore weighed into the wagons
could not be discharged for some time".
By the end of 1877, the first hint of
caution crept in to Waters' reports when he said "the present state of our
mine in no way alters my opinion as to the chances of its opening out again to
a profitable state in the future". In 1878 Waters rallied by saying that
the mine was "sending off ore as fast as the carriers can take it".
The problem was that the Main Lode was thinning out at depth and it was costing
more to obtain ore of a gradually decreasing quality. These increased costs
corresponded with a fall in the price of lead and in 1878 the company made a
loss for the first time. The company's shares were already fully paid up and it
was not possible to raise any more capital. Waters recommended to the
shareholders that the mine only sell as much ore as necessary to meet costs and
concentrate on opening up ore-bearing ground for when the price rose again. The
shareholders would not agree, however, and as a result, the old company was
liquidated.
New Engine Shaft was commenced in 1879 but
it only went down to adit level, from where it connected with Watsons Engine
Shaft. The purpose of this shaft is not known but it may have been an attempt
to search for new ore deposits or a means of pumping water up to the adjacent
reservoir. There is a concrete engine bed next to the shaft but nothing is
known about this.
The mine was acquired in 1880 by a new
company called Tankerville Great Consols, the Cornish sounding name being the
idea of Peter Watson, the leading light of the new company. He had bought Bog
and Pennerley Mines in 1879 and attempted to raise £100,000 capital to work all
three mines plus Potters Pit. The venture was described in the Mining Journal
as "probably the largest lead property in the kingdom" but it only
raised a little money and this was used to get ore out of Pennerley Mine and to
try to drain Bog Mine. Tankerville Mine was all but ignored and, within two
years, the company was in financial trouble. In 1882, a crisis meeting of
shareholders was held and at the meeting Waters promised :
"We shall not rest until we have
Tankerville into such a position as will recoup you all your outlay. As long as
we are connected with the mine, no stone shall be left unturned, no brain power
that we possess shall be left unexpended to produce a result that shall be
satisfactory not only to our shareholders but to ourselves".
Luckily, some more capital was raised and
Watsons Engine Shaft was sunk to the 244 fathom level. This was the final depth
of the shaft and it has been estimated that it cost a total of £30,000 to sink,
although the ore won more than compensated for this. By this time, compressed
air boring machines were being used and this is believed to be their first use
in Shropshire mines. Despite this, however, the price of lead continued to
fall.
It appeared that North Lode was rapidly
approaching the Main Lode in the bottom of the mine and Peter Watson and Arthur
Waters were most anxious to reach the junction. They believed that this would
be where the Main Lode would recover its value, as it had been so rich at about
the 92 fathom level where lodes had branched away in the vertical plane. They
were unable to raise the necessary finance to continue, however, and the lodes
were still 9ft apart at the deepest point seen, the 244 fathom level. The lode
was only producing a maximum of 2 tons per cubic fathom and, with dressed
galena selling at only £6.50 per ton, the mine could not cover costs. It is
worth noting, however, that Arthur Waters said that there was as much lead in
total between each level at the bottom of the mine as there had been higher
but, spread as it was over a much greater length, it would not pay to stope
under ruling conditions. Since the mine was unable to make a profit, pumping
was stopped on 2nd May 1884 and the company was liquidated 13 days later.
The mine workings flooded up to adit and,
although there were subsequent attempts to work the mine, these were only
small. In 1889-90 the mine was worked by the Earl of Tankerville himself with 4
men on the tips. In April 1891 the mine was leased by Shropshire United Mining
Co Ltd, who paid the Earl of Tankerville £193. 7s. 6d for unidentified
machinery. They worked the upper levels of Old Lode and the mine tips for lead
and barytes but had abandoned the site by 30th September 1893. In 1895 a
license was granted to S M Ridge to search for minerals but little work was
actually done. In 1898 the Mining Journal reported that the 32" winding
engine had been removed from the mine.
The remaining mine equipment was finally
auctioned off in 1902, together with that of Pennerley Mine. The lots for
Tankerville Mine were :-
- Valuable Cornish beam pumping engine,
40" cylinder, 9ft stroke in and 7ft out, in good condition, By Harvey,
Hayle Foundry, Cornwall.
- Single purchase rope winch.
- Coil of 1.5" rope.
- About 162ft of 9" cast iron pump
trees in shaft above water, with plunger pole, and about 1,450ft of 8",
7" and 6" cast iron pump trees under water; also about 162ft of
pitchpine pump rods above water, the remaining pitchpine and iron pump rods
under water.
- About 120ft of cast iron 9" steam
flange piping from engine to boilers.
- Galloway boiler, with two tubes 30ft
6" x 6ft 6" by Easton & Tattersall, Leeds
- Cornish boiler, with one tube, 3ft x 6ft
6", with steam and safety valves.
- Quantity of 3" steam and feed piping
and several 3" bends.
- Two wrought iron kibbles and sheet iron
pit tub.
- Quantity of 2" wrought iron piping.
- Wrought iron scale hook and sundries.
- Free stone engine bed, with strong wrought
iron holding-down bolts and nuts.
A number of items are missing from the list,
eg the engines from Ovenpipe Shaft and the crushers, rails, dressing machinery,
etc. It is likely therefore that they had been previously been sold or removed
for use elsewhere on the combined sett, perhaps at Pennerley.
In 1921-23 the mine was leased to Shropshire
Lead Mines Ltd who worked the dumps for barytes and calcite, the latter being
used for pebbledashing. In 1922 the official records showed five persons
working underground but these may have been working at one of the other mines
on the sett. It was probably during this period that there was a branch aerial
ropeway from the one that took barytes from Bog Mine to Minsterley. This took
spar, etc from Tankerville up past Burgam Mine to a transfer station. In 1929
the Boat Level was blocked just past the junction with the mine, probably by
infill of a shaft. The crosscut to Ovenpipe Shaft has also now collapsed but
water can still flow through.
Last revised: 1 May 2005