Ivy Tor Mine, Belstone, West Devon, Devon, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
Ivy Tor Mine	Mine (Abandoned)
Belstone	Civil Parish
West Devon	Borough
Devon	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

Ivy Tor Mine is within the Dartmoor National Park and therein collecting of anything is banned. It is also on land privately owned by people with a suspicion of any perceived 'intruder'.

That said, the site is most easily accessed from the public footpath along the valley floor from the village of Belstone, following the path down to the stream and then along its bank until one gets to the portal of the mine at the junction of Ivy Tor water with the 'Taw'.

The mine adit discharges into the stream and it is in this area that native Bismuth associated with arsenical pyrites has been found in the past.

The adit itself was water filled to waist depth earlier this year (2005) and does not seem to give one access to the mine proper. The adit area is covered by heavy growth of native shrubs/small trees and is quite hidden from 30 yards away.

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The 1886 Ordnance Survey map shows the location as Ivytor Mine (Tin, Disused).
A photograph of the site with an unknown date but after the mine was abandoned, possibly c1900, shows a large spoil heap between the shaft collar and the river. The location is fixed by a footbridge in the photo that is marked on the 1905 OS map, whereas neither the shaft nor buildings are, which is consistent with the photo where no buildings can be seen. The spoil heap is no longer in evidence and has probably been swept away by floods on the river but pebbles containing minerals can be found in the vicinity and these presumably were part of the vanished spoil heap.
June 2020.
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