This unsuccessful mine has also been known as West Stiperstones Mine but
the current name comes from a small adjacent earthwork on the opposite
hillside. Accounts of the earlier operations were reported in the Mining
Journal in 1859. These reports, made in glowing terms, emphasised the profits
made at Bog and White Grit Mines which worked the same veins and are said to
have made profits of £2,000,000. To the north, Snailbeach Mine was working lead
veins worth £275 per fathom. Generally a very encouraging picture to attract
prospective investors!
At a meeting of shareholders in May of that year, the Chairman Mr Fuller
made his report on the progress of the mine. An engine had been bought from
Bedford Foundry, Tavistock for the sum of £579 10s 0d and was of sufficient
power to sink to great depth. It was to fulfill the triple role of winding
engine, pumping engine and drive unit for the crusher. The shaft was 35 fathoms
deep at that time and it was planned to increase this to 53 fathoms, where
mining would take place. Captain Morris reported the buildings to be "in a
forward state" and awaiting the engine. This was to be erected by Mr
Mathews, engineer to Devon Great Consols Mine, and working by November.
It is interesting to note that Captain Morris wrote several letters to
the Mining Journal in support of the Bog Mining Co, signing himself
Underground, the 53 fathom level had been reached but no great
discoveries of ore had been made. A Captain Kneebone, acting as consultant to
the company, advised the management to continue working as he was sure that
profits could be made. A few months later, however, the company was wound up
and the mine sold to the Wentnor Mining Co.
The mine was worked in 1871 by the West Stiperstones Co who also had an
interest in Bog Mine. At the AGM of that year, Captain Waters of Tankerville
Mine stated that water pumped from Bog Mine and its dressing floors would be
diverted to Ritton Castle Mine. Here it would be used to drive a waterwheel to
provide power for New Engine Shaft. In a later report, Captain Waters proposed
a new shaft and quoted £3,500 as the cost of sinking it and equipping it with
an engine and pitwork. The mine was never a paying proposition and presumably
closed when Bog Mine ceased.
The remains of the pumping engine house and chimney are hidden amongst
the trees and both badly deteriorating. The adjacent oval engine shaft is open
to a blockage a short way down but has good ginging.
In the valley below to the east is the winding shaft, open to water 10ft
down. It has been suggested that the adjacent masonry structure is possibly the
base of a waterwheel for winding in the shaft. A trial shaft in a side valley
to the south-east is blocked a short way down. The climbing shaft to the north
is open to water a few feet down, with opencut workings just to the east. There
are larger opencut workings above on the opposite bank, behind a shed. At the
back of these is a badly covered stopehead.
North of the climbing shaft is a collapsed adit on the west bank of the
stream and an open arched adit on the opposite bank. This is collapsed 15 yards
in and there are signs of a collapsed air shaft on the hillside above. It has
been suggested that this was the original drainage level for Bog Mine. Upstream
are the remains of a large dam which may have supplied water for ore dressing
and possibly the waterwheel.