MDE8274 - Girt Down Mine (Monument)

The Girt Down Mine is located on the southern and eastern slopes of the Great Hangman. There was no central mine, rather a series of prospecting plots for iron or manganese in a leased area dating to the middle of the 19th Century.

The name "Girt Down" has been applied on various Ordnance Survey map Editions to the southern and eastern slopes of the Great Hangman. The 1981 Ordnance Survey map [18] shows a number of scoops in the hillside centred at SS 6028 4819, opening into the slope adjacent to the modern path on the northeastern slopes of Great Hangman. The easternmost three have been visited in the field. They are shallow open workings usually with lobes of spoil on the cliff below. They are not more than 2.4 metres deep. Further west the path has been closed due to landslip. Claughton [1,7?] has provided a sketch of an openwork and adits in this area. Their condition and precise location has not been ascertained. These remains form part of an extensive area of small scale workings which stretch over this length. [2] Girt and Holdstone Down mine. There are adits at The Rawns, just above hwm (?), and workings on the cliff top just west of The Rawn's at SS588480. There are also adits on the north side of great hangman at SS600482. A lease of both the Girt Down and Holdstone Down sections was granted in 1796, but the extent of working is not known. The Girt section was worked for iron in 1867-8 by the West of England Iron Ore Company. Work recommenced in 1872 and in 1875 the mine was taken over by the Girt and Holdstone Downs Mining Company, which wound up in 1876. In 1877 the mine was in the hands of the Comb-Martin Manganese and Haematite Iron Ore Company who worked it for a short period only. The area was reputedly worked during World War One. [3-4] The mine was worked in the 18th and 19th Centuries. It is recorded as having been destroyed. [5] It would appear that a Land Surveyor named John Leversedge (in partnership with a George Bush of Wiveliscombe) took a lease from Sir Charles Watson for Mining Rights for iron on Girt Down in 1867. [8] Unlike West Challacombe Mine (MDE8262) there seems to have been no central mine at Girt Down but rather this was a company name controlling a leased area (or sett), which encompassed a series of prospecting plots for Iron/Manganese during the middle l9th century [7]. This may well be the lease referred to above. The precise boundary of the sett was not ascertained but the individual adits and workings are centred at about SS 5915 4815. [9] Several adits are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs, located to the east of Little Hangman Cliff. They are mostly sub circular, measuring between 6 and 8 metres across. At least three are visible on aerial photographs; however, there may be other smaller adits at the same location. Documentary evidence suggests they are part of the Girt Down Mine Sett, worked for iron and manganese during the 19th Century. [10-11] Many workings are visible and annotated as 'quarry' on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey mapping. These workings often appear without annotation on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map, or are annotated as 'old quarry'. [14, 15] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [16,17]