MDE21687 - Parracombe Mine (Monument)

SS 667 449. Parracombe Mine. The shaft of a silver-lead working from 1877-78 on the northwest side of the village in a field behind the former malthouse. [1] This shaft, situated at SS 6675 4488, is inaccessible due to thick scrub so no dimensions are available. A local resident remembers, as a child, burning rubbish in the shaft which exploded due to a rush of air from below [2]. From the west side of a field bank some 10 metres to the west of the shaft in a pasture field is a linear trench. It is 4 metres wide, 0.4 metres deep and runs for some 23 metres southwest of the edge of the old river terrace of the River Heddon. It appears to be a collapsed adit into the shaft. Surveyed at 1:2500.35. [3] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [4] A directory of 1878 mentions silver and lead mining at Parracombe, although the scale of this was unlikely to have contributed greatly to the local economy. [5]