Bere Ferrers: medieval silver mining in Devon

Professor Stephen Rippon, Dr Peter Claughton and Chris Smart.

Today, industry is mostly a feature of the urban landscape but this has not always been the case, and the Bere Ferrers Project is exploring the role of industry in shaping the English rural countryside. At the close of the medieval period the vast majority of manufacturing output in England came from small producers integrated into rural society. Mining, however, has traditionally been excluded from such a model by historians holding a view, coloured by post-medieval developments in certain sectors like copper and coal production, that its demand on capital and technology was beyond the reach of the small producer. Others, however, have argued convincingly for its inclusion seeing the archetypal mine at the close of the medieval period as small scale, and supporting increased production through a multiplicity of similar operations; it created no great demand on either capital or technology and its workforce was integrated into the rural landscape, having dual occupation and moving easily between agriculture and mining in tune with demands on production.

Historical sources suggest that there was one sector of non-ferrous (iron) metal mining that had, however, developed on a large, capital intensive, ‘industrial’ scale from the 13th century. The mining of silver-bearing ores was, prior to the 13th century, largely centred in northern England, regulated according to custom that allowed the participation of a multiplicity of small operators, and exploiting rich but shallow resources. When, in the 13th century, the English Crown exercised a right of prerogative over silver-bearing ores and opened up mines in Devon, mining in this and later silver mining fields was divorced from customary regulation. In doing so the Crown embarked on a course of action that was unprecedented and not emulated in continental Europe until at least the 17th century. The significance of this early industrialisation on the technology and organisation of production - the traditional concerns of industrial archaeology and mining history - are well known, but what has not been considered before is the impact that this had on the wider landscape.

Using Devon as a case study, due to its particularly fine documentary sources and well-preserved preserved field archaeology, this project will initially assess the extent of extractive industry in the medieval countryside, and characterise its impact upon the historic landscape of today. In addition to the well known Dartmoor tin industry this will include iron on Exmoor, and copper at North Molton. The specific case study will be the previously neglected but remarkably well-preserved Bere Ferrers complex on the confluence of the rivers Tavy and Tamar in south Devon, where silver was worked under the direct management of Crown officers from 1292 to 1349 (and thereafter by Crown lessees) as its impact on the wider economy, society, landscape and environment may have been on an altogether different scale to the other rural industries.

Traditionally, industrial archaeology and mining history have been inward looking disciplines that have struggled to integrate with the wider fields of medieval archaeology, history, and landscape study. This project hopes to bring the study of mining into mainstream medieval studies and is innovative in terms of both its topic – the impact of extractive industries of different scales on the rural historic landscape – and its interdisciplinary approach integrating both archaeological and historical sources and techniques.

Most of the extractive industries in Devon, in keeping with the rest of medieval England, relied to a large extent on part-time labour and were integrated with the agrarian economy (though their impact on both the medieval countryside, and the landscape character of today, has never been fully assessed). The same, however, cannot have been true of the Bere Ferrers mines that documentary evidence suggests were on an altogether different scale of operation that appears to be unique in medieval England, with over 300 men employed on wages and piecework, many being pressed into service and moved to Devon from other mining fields. They would have placed an increased demand on food supplies and existing settlements in the area and this is reflected in the establishment of the village and later borough of Bere Alston. The impact of this industry on the local landscape is likely to have been far greater than the traditional mining industries of Devon, and its implications for settlement and supply networks will be an important theme in this research.

The first stage of this project will be to map all the known archaeological and historical evidence for extractive industries in Devon, in order to place the specific case-study that forms the focus of this project (Bere Ferrers) in context. Research will then be carried out on the remarkably detailed documentary sources for Bere Ferrers, which an initial assessment has shown are rich in local topographic details that, alongside the analysis of later maps, field-names and place-names, will enable not just the mines themselves to be located, but also the settlements, transport systems, and water supply. The earthworks of a series of well-preserved mine workings have already been identified through initial field visits and these will be surveyed in detail, while a wider-ranging survey will locate and record the associated infrastructure, including a remarkable leat that was tunneled through a nearby hillside. The integration of these sources will be achieved through reconstructing the landscape before, during and after the industrial phase.

Above: Tunnel constructed through the hills above Bere Ferrers to carry a water leat to the medieval mining complex.