Burning House   Above  in 2017 , a ruin,  but still standing and recently sold with an attached wood.

This  industrial building was built to process rocks and produce ore .  There were furnaces in the east and west cells with storerooms above in which ore was kept. Each furnace has a segmental brick vault containing a hopper through which the iron ore was shovelled from the storeroom above. 

The fire was positioned against the gable wall with an external access to the north and an ash pit below. Below the furnace was a cooling chamber also with external access. Two flues led out from the furnaces to a detached stack to the north.’

The Haytor Iron Mine was worked first at the surface and later by adit ( a big hole ) and was a long established and relatively large mine by Devon standards, producing a mixture of brown haematite and magnetite, the latter much favoured by steel producers.

 Mining here is believed to have been taking place by the 16th century, although large scale production is only recorded from the early 19th century

 More about the buildings and its environment as well  as the part it played in the mining process here

Atlas Burning House – also known as The Albion Burning House, is  just outside the village of Ilsington. Firstly associated with an old mine which in its time was known as both The Albion Mine and The Atlas Mine. 

Latterly in its working life the Atlas Mine  was worked independently and jointly with nearby Albion and Smallcombe mines. Finally closing around 1920

Ref.: Dana 6:13.   Ref: Richardson P.H.G. (1991) Mines of Dartmoor & the Taymar Valley after 1913, Devon Books, Tiverton.

 The Burn House

Seen above  in 2017 , a ruin,  but still standing and recently sold with an attached wood.

This was an industrial building built to process rocks and produce ore . Made of large dressed granite blocks, except for part of the western end which is built of granite and slatestone rubble, it has red brick dressings and internal finishings and a corrugated iron roof. It has a rectangular 3 cell plan with a central room and two furnaces either side.  There were furnaces in the east and west cells with e storerooms above in which ore was kept. Each furnace has a segmental brick vault containing a hopper through which the iron ore was shovelled from the storeroom above. 

The fire was positioned against the gable wall with an external access to the north and an ash pit below. Below the furnace was a cooling chamber also with external access. Two flues led out from the furnaces to a detached stack to the north.’

More below

13 mines in the Ashburton and Buckfast area.

Ilsington Mining.

20 Feb 1018 - ongoing

In medieval times Dartmoor was mined for alluvial tin digging it out of the river valleys of the open moorland. The processes of removing  the ore, extracting it from the rock, by crushing it, before smelting it over a wood fire to produce ingots of tin. This crude method produced ingots of finer quality than could be obtained by mechanical means several hundred years later. Once they had accumulated sufficient the ingots were carried off the moor on pack mules and taken to Ashburton where a corner or coyne was cut off  for assay.

Ashburton was one of Devon stannary towns where refined tin was checked for quality, weighed  and assessed for the payment of duty before being stamped.  

1500 AD   Robert Pomeroy of Ingsdon in Ilsington parish gave to John Pomeroy ,younger son by his wife Elizabeth Beaumont, received from his father Barns Place or Burns Place, the burning house of Ilsington Mine on Haytor.

The Atlas Burning House –is just outside the village of Ilsington.  The Burning House was associated with an old mine which in its time was known as both The Albion Mine and The Atlas Mine. 

Due to an igneous intrusion the area around Ilsington has been left the legacy of various mineral lodes which include; tin, iron, lead, zinc, copper, and manganese.  

At one time there were numerous small mines dotted around the area, one of which was The Atlas Mine.

Albion Burning House is built of large dressed granite blocks, except for part of the western end which is built of granite and slatestone rubble. It has red brick dressings and internal finishing and a corrugated iron roof. It has a rectangular 3 cell plan with a central room and two furnaces either side. Above the furnaces in the east and west cells were storerooms in which ore was kept. Each furnace has a segmental brick vault containing a hopper through which the iron ore was shovelled from the storeroom above. The fire was positioned against the gable wall with an external access to the north and an ash pit below. Below the furnace was a cooling chamber also with external access. Two flues led out from the furnaces to a detached stack to the north.’, (English Heritage On-Line Source).

 notes taken from Ilsington Mines. Mines of Devon; AK Hamilton Jenkin; Landmark Books