Crowndale Mine, Tavistock, West Devon, Devon, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
Crowndale Mine	Mine
Tavistock	Town
West Devon	Borough
Devon	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

Originally worked for copper it was developed from 1799 onwards for 500 fathoms along the length of the lode by 18 shafts, engine shaft the deepest to 90 fathoms.
In 1833 a smelting plant was set up on the sett smelting ores from many of the surrounding mines and also partly smelted tin ores from Dartmoor workings. Slag material can be found in the track leading up to the fields opposite the recycling plant. This evidently contains a fair amount of metal as where the track crosses the Tavistock canal on a bridge there is substantial copper leeching from the stonework underneath the bridge
Prospected again in 1923-6 when a rich shoot of arsenic up to 4 feet thick was discovered though no extraction apparently took place.
Access is now by a 50 foot deep shaft (possibly Gill's) into an open stope. Quartz-fluorite vein stuff with pyrite (assayed at 2-4drams of gold and 1oz of silver / ton or ore), arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite can be found on the floor of the stope. Cuprite is found between the beds in occasional pieces of killas. An adit heading southwards passes under another blocked shaft and then into another area of stoping principally below adit level.
Ref: Richardson P.H.G. (1991) Mines of Dartmoor & the Taymar Valley after 1913, Devon Books, Tiverton.
Dines H.G. 1956
Hamilton Jenkin 'Mines of Devon West'

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