MSO7164 - Lancecombe Mine, Exton (Monument)

A trial level at Lancecombe was opened by the Brendon Hills Iron Ore Company in the late 1860s but was unproductive and short-lived. [1] Lancecombe Mine comprises a filled in adit (centred at SS 9435 3586) and an associated spoil heap. The adit lies on the western side of an unnamed stream (flowing north to south) and runs approximately west-south-west into the hillside. It is now infilled and is marked by a slight gulley overgrown with gorse. To the south is a flat topped spoil mound about 25 metres long and 1 metre high. It fills part of the narrow valley floor and is bounded by the stream and a hedge bank on the east and by a marshy area on the west. The stream may have been diverted to accommodate the spoil mound. The mine lies some 25 metres west of the deserted farm of Lancecombe (MSO7175). Lancecombe Mine surveyed at 1:2500 scale, 16 October 1997. [2] The trial adit was said to have been so shallow that the miners could be heard working from the kitchen of Lancecombe Farm. [3] A track is shown on the Exton Tithe Map that goes direct to the farm through the mine site. [8] The track mentioned above appears to have been diverted around the mine site, as shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map. [9] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [10]