Taking advantage of the fine weather we've been having recently, this was a totally random trip out with Graybags & theterrorwheel to document what's left above ground before the clearance begins in preparation to breathe new life into this site. A site of huge significance to our industry & considering it has the fourth largest deposit of tungsten & tin in the world, should provide a welcome boost to our economy when deeper opencast mining begins in the near future. Discovery of deposits was made here in 1867, but it wasn't until 1917 that the site was prepared with mining operation starting two years later, producing some 16,000 tons of ore before closure. It reopened with a new plant during World War 2 due to shortages in tungsten, with it's final operations taking place in 1944.
Here's a deeper history [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemerdon_Mine[/ame]
Anyone who has visited this site looking onto Dartmoor, i think will agree, that the buildings in their current state look like they could come down at any minute, it's certainly took a battering from the weather during the years. Some of the buildings do have that WW2 feel to them, with flak tower type stuctures, the air raid shelter is still there & remnants of blackout blinds on the windows, a rare sight indeed. Unfortunately the underground shaft is flooded which is a damn shame as it's thought to be up to 400 metres deep, it would have been interesting to see what it was like
On the day of our visit we came across a random pile of clothes, outside one of the accomodation/admin blocks & suddenly realised we weren't alone, walking in on a scantily clad model during a photoshoot....this would have been too much of a distraction for Graybags so we made our excuses & moved on to another part of the site to take in some great views from the Hemerdon Heights . Myself & TTW popped back the day after to get some more pics joined by mk1kebab & his brother, & we bumped into another 2 photographers exiting one of the buildings. Pointed them in the direction of this site so a big hello to Pete & ? (sorry i didn't get your name) from Saltash Camera Club! It's a bit pic heavy this so apologies to anyone who is on a slow connection.
Further images here;
http://s924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/Hidden_Plymouth/Hemerdon Tungsten Mine/?start=0
Here's a deeper history [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemerdon_Mine[/ame]
Anyone who has visited this site looking onto Dartmoor, i think will agree, that the buildings in their current state look like they could come down at any minute, it's certainly took a battering from the weather during the years. Some of the buildings do have that WW2 feel to them, with flak tower type stuctures, the air raid shelter is still there & remnants of blackout blinds on the windows, a rare sight indeed. Unfortunately the underground shaft is flooded which is a damn shame as it's thought to be up to 400 metres deep, it would have been interesting to see what it was like
On the day of our visit we came across a random pile of clothes, outside one of the accomodation/admin blocks & suddenly realised we weren't alone, walking in on a scantily clad model during a photoshoot....this would have been too much of a distraction for Graybags so we made our excuses & moved on to another part of the site to take in some great views from the Hemerdon Heights . Myself & TTW popped back the day after to get some more pics joined by mk1kebab & his brother, & we bumped into another 2 photographers exiting one of the buildings. Pointed them in the direction of this site so a big hello to Pete & ? (sorry i didn't get your name) from Saltash Camera Club! It's a bit pic heavy this so apologies to anyone who is on a slow connection.
Further images here;
http://s924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/Hidden_Plymouth/Hemerdon Tungsten Mine/?start=0
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