MEM15373 - Poorsland Adit at Ison Mine (Monument)

Poorsland Adit was one of the three main workings at Ison Mine and includes a stone arched adit entrance (blocked), a possible building platform, the revetment from a bridge that previously crossed the Quarme and the remains of a causeway.

The main workings at Ison Mine were at Poorsland Adit and Hoe Combe. Poorsland Adit was so named after ‘Wootton Courtenay, Winsford & Cutcombe Poor’s Charity’ which owned land at Eisen Hill. The results were disappointing and by 1860 abandonment was considered. Extension of the Poorsland Adit after 1861 lead to a temporary increase in production. [1] An exceptionally well preserved adit. It comprises a stone arched opening 1.5 metres high and 1.6 metres wide. Water still issues from the opening which runs back westwards into the hillside for 5 metres. To the immediate south of the adit is a platform measuring 6 metres by 3.5 metres, and cut by 1.5 metres into the hillside. It may have supported a building at the adit mouth. To the east of the adit (circa 20 metres) is the River Quarme. This was presumably bridged at SS 91522 37031, where traces of stone revetments, 7 metres long and 1.2 metres high, survive. On the eastern bank of the river a raised embankment or causeway 2.4 m high presumably allowed ore to be moved to the nearby road (now the A396). [2] The arched entrance is blocked and there is a roof fall to the west. [3] The adit was explored by Shepton Mallet Caving Club in 1973. [4]