page_title: Eylesbarrow mine
section_title: Leats, reservoir and wheelpits
hierarchical_section_title: Eylesbarrow mine / Field remains / Leats, reservoir and wheelpits
caption_attribution_description: A view of line of twin stone posts along which the rod ran to take power from the wheelpit to other parts of the mine at Eylesbarrow mine on Dartmoor in South Devon, UK.
context_page_description: Eylesbarrow mine was a tin mine on Dartmoor, Devon, England that was active during the first half of the 19th century. In its early years it was one of the largest and most prosperous of the Dartmoor tin mines, along with Whiteworks and the Birch Tor and Vitifer mines. Its name has several variant spellings, such as Eylesburrow, Ailsborough, Ellisborough, Hillsborough etc. It was also known as Wheal Ruth for a short period around 1850. The extensive remains lie to the north of the River Plym, less than 1 mile north-east of Drizzlecombe, on the southern shoulder of the hill called Eylesbarrow on top of which are two prominent Bronze Age barrows.
context_section_description: Despite the extensive underground workings, no more than one waterwheel was used for pumping water out of the mine. The first waterwheel, whose wheelpit can still be seen just to the north of the main track, was built in 1814–15 and was powered by water carried by a leat that curved around the south side of Higher Hartor Tor drawing water from the upper reaches of the River Plym. In 1818 this leat, known as Engine Leat, was extended over the Plym to also collect water from the Langcombe Brook, a tributary on its south bank. Another leat built in the 1820s attempted to collect water from the hillside to the north. That the water supply was still inadequate at times is shown by the construction, before 1825, of a large linear reservoir on the line of the main leat, the northern end of which is now cut off by the main track which used to pass over it by a bridge. This reservoir was up to 13 m (43 ft) wide and up to 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) deep and its 192 m (630 ft) long dam was about 10 m (33 ft) thick and reinforced with substantial granite blocks on the inner face. William Crossing reported that the mine owner, a man named Deacon, used to entertain guests by taking them out on the reservoir in a small boat.
  Construction of a more powerful waterwheel, the one proposed by Captain Spargo in 1847, was completed by March 1849 at the latest. It replaced the earlier wheel and was sited in the head of the disused Deep Adit Shaft, close to the Two Brothers Adit. This waterwheel had a diameter of 50 ft (15 m) and 3 ft (1 m) breast and was almost certainly the largest on the moor at the time. Located about 30 m (98 ft) lower down the hillside, it took advantage of a richer water supply which included the outfall from the nearby adit, an earlier leat drawing water from the Plym, some further leats to the north that attempted to collect water from the surface runoff on the hillside, as well as the re-routed Engine Leat.
  Traces of all the above-mentioned features can still be seen in the field.
caption: Some of the pillars for the flatrod system that led from the first waterwheel to Old Engine Shaft
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "SONY DSC", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSLR-A350", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DSLR-A350 v1.00", "Image DateTime": "2009:04:02 10:50:39", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "390", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 6, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "40294", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3566", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:04:02 10:50:39", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:04:02 10:50:39", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "228/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "217/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Daylight", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "40", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3056", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "30564", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "60", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Hard", "EXIF Saturation": "Hard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard"}