The Red River forms the boundary between the ancient parishes of Camborne,
on the west, and Illogan, on the east. The site lies on Camborne side of
the Red River in the tenement of South Entral, which became known as Carn
Entral. It is situated just upstream from the village of Brea. The
original tenement of Brea lies in the old
parish of Illogan, and is
bounded on the west by the Red River. Both tenements were part of Tehidy
Manor, owned for several hundred years, until the early twentieth century,
by the Basset family. To the south of Brea, also within Illogan Parish, is Carnarthen, formerly in the ownership of the Vyvyan family, and they also
had an interest in the workings on the site.
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Tin streaming for alluvial tin deposits has taken place along the upper
reaches of the Red River since earliest times. The north-running rivers
and streams of west Cornwall have probably been worked for tin since the
Bronze Age, and records from the medieval period suggest fairly continuous
activity until the early modern period, when records became more frequent.
One of the earliest direct references to tin production on Entral and Brea
moors is from the late sixteenth century, when 'James Bassett of Tehiddye
granted to Mary the wife of Humphry Crane and William Carlyan the lease of
'two stampinge milles, water courses, letes and buddels' on the moor
between Brea and Entral tenements. The lease was dated 20th June 1588
(31st of Elizabeth). Tin working along
this part of the Red River
continued during the seventeenth century, and a seven year lease was
granted to John Eudie, in July 1658, of three pairs of tin stamps on 'Entral
Bottoms', which was the moor between Entral and Brea.
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The extant Tehidy Manor accounts become fairly detailed after 1721, and
between 1722 and 1735 there are numerous references to streaming for
alluvial tin along this stretch of the Red River. Some 31 parcels of tin
were sold from there during that time, totalling over eight tons of 'black
tin' (tin concentrate). In the 1730s William Doidge was commissioned to
draw up detailed maps of Tehidy Manor, and these were published in 1737.
They show sixteen sets of tin stamping mills between the upper Red River
and Tehidy Mill, over a mile downstream from Brea and Entral. On Entral
side of the river Henry John held nine sets of stamps and on Brea side of
the river Henry Provis had two sets. Two of John's stamps lay just to the
north of the Betty Adit site, one on the river and another on
a leat,
which appears to run close to or through the present site. These stamps
crushed material from adjacent lode works (underground mines), alluvial
operations and tailings (waste) from mines, which lay upstream from Brea.
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In 1760 a dispute arose between Sir Richard Vyvyan, owner of Carnarthen,
and Francis Basset, of Tehidy, over ownership of the headweir, which fed
Dolcoath's engine leat. Vyvyan reckoned the water was from a leat on his
side of the river, and thus his right. Basset disputed this. The sketch
map, which accompanied the correspondence between these two friendly
neighbours, is extremely informative. It shows the leat on Carnarthen side
of the river being carried over the main Red River to the Entral side by
means of a launder,
and then led into the Dolcoath engine leat. This
launder crossed the location of the present Betty Adit site. The water,
which supplied this 'New leat', came from the 'New tail to Wh. Betty
Adit'. The original 'tail' (portal) continued to outflow immediately to
the south of the Betty Adit site, and also flowed into the 'New leat', on Entral side of the river, passing through the site.
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