This mine has also been known as Hope Valley Mine, Upper Batholes Mine,
West Tankerville Mine and Wood Mine. It is often overshadowed by its adjacent
neighbour to the south but it was worked as a separate entity. In the 1790s,
John Lawrence worked it as a combined sett with Batholes to the north but he
had to relinquish it in 1831 to pay the costs incurred in a series of legal
battles. By that time, he had installed a small rotary engine with a 24"
cylinder and 4ft stroke. The mine was opened up again by the Batholes Co Ltd in
1847 but it had liquidated by 1853.
The Tankerville Company were working the mine in 1866 and, at the AGM,
Captain Waters reported that an engine had been installed for crushing and
winding at the Wood and Lawrence Shafts. In addition, a 30 H.P. engine was to
be installed for pumping from
This engine is probably the one which pumped on Wood Shaft, raising
water from a depth of 80 fathoms to the Wood Level drainage adit (20 fathoms
deep at this point). In 1870 it was fitted with a new cylinder bottom and
spring piston. In the 1870s at Wood Shaft, the weather was so dry that there
was no water for the boilers so a pit was sunk on the hillside and water hand
pumped out to keep the engines running. About the same time, a splendid lode of
ore was discovered when cutting foundations for a new boiler house. There was
also a 14" engine which operated dressing machinery but the location of
this is unknown.
By following the track that leads up past the tips, the infilled Black
Gin Shaft can be seen on the right. The line of four air shafts heading
north-west are on the line of Wood Level.
On contouring round the hill to the south, the site of Wood Winding
Shaft has now been capped and is in a garden. The only masonry structure left
is the stump of a square chimney by the road which seems to have been
associated with the ore dressing plant. By the reservoir are three adits. The
first on the south bank is blind, the second leads into a small stope, while
the third on the north bank leads to a blockage which corresponds to a blocked
shaft on surface. This may be Lawrence Whim Shaft and its associated Day Level.
It is not really clear from plans as there is another shaft on the south side
of the valley only 20 yards away, which also may be Lawrence Whim Shaft. Another
blocked shaft near the one on the north side overlooks a second reservoir.
Returning to the south side of the valley, Cornish Shaft and California
Shaft are located in the first field but both have been filled in recent years.
Under the holly tree at the corner of the field is another unnamed shaft on the
California Vein. This has been descended for 75ft past a blockage of loose
rocks and carcases to a point where it became too dangerous. The collapsed
entrance to Upper Level, which led into these workings, can be seen by the
tramway on the hillside. California Shaft was worked by an engine in the next
field, where the groove occupied by the flatrods is visible. This engine also
worked Boundary Shaft of Roman Gravels Mine.