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.
As with the 1737 Doidge Map, this sketch map of 1760 confirms that,
although the Betty Adit site was surrounded by stream workings, leats and
stamps, some of which kept the same names through into the twentieth
century, the site itself was not occupied by a tin stream working.
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The First Series Ordnance Survey map of 1880, shows 'Stream Works (Tin)'
at the southern end of the site, and again, the leat supplying Dolcoath is
shown running through the site, toward the north-west corner, where it
passes outside the boundary. The river is dammed, possibly to supply water
to a stream works immediately to the north and there are reservoirs or
settling pits at the north end of the site. What is presumably another
works lies immediately to the east on the other side of the Red River.
The 1908 Second Series adds more detail to the picture, showing extensive
workings on the east side of the river, mostly comprising settling tanks
and strips but with a number of buddles or round frames. The northern part
of the Betty Adit site, where the convex concrete frames now lie, was
covered by a large roofed structure, in reality probably a group of
buildings. To the south is a series of settling strips.
It appears that the present arrangement was put in place in the 1920s, and
the date 1929 has been marked on the concrete work of one of the buddles.
This stream works was operated between the late 1920s and the early 1960s,
mostly by the late Ewart Bawden and his family. It appears that around the
year 1962 the works finally ceased on the site. Nowhere on the present
site is there any evidence for the locations of stamps. It is unlikely
that any other form of crushing was used and it is possible that it was
stamped on the east side of the valley.
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To the south of the Betty Adit works was the streamworks belonging to Stee
Mounce, a somewhat idiosyncratic site worked on an ad hoc basis. This
works operated for a number of years and eventually produced a total of
about 10 tons of concentrate (Paul Richards, personal communication); it
lay immediately south of an older stream works which still retained
derelict machinery in the 1960s. In January 1965 Brea Tin Limited was
registered to process dump material. In order to obviate delays in
obtaining planning permission for a new tin dressing plant the company
bought the works belonging to Stee Mounce for £100. Included in the
agreement was (allegedly) a verbal understanding that he would be allowed
some time to salvage his waterwheel and machinery for use elsewhere.
Unfortunately however no such time was given and the site was levelled
shortly after the sale was completed. The stamps were demolished soon
after the rest of the plant and much of the small ironwork sold for scrap.
The stamps barrel remained on site until October 1967 when it was sold to
Thomas Ward & Co. at Hayle. The wheel shaft was discovered in 1969 and
retrieved by the Trevithick Society. In 2000 excavations in the valley
revealed a number of Cornish stamps and lifters which are now the property
of the Trevithick Society and on display at King Edward Mine. The modern
plant of Hydraulic Tin Ltd operated until the tin crisis of the mid-1980s
when it too stopped. Like the other tin streams before it, this site was
never recorded and all of the equipment has apparently been lost.
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