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Alluvial tin streamwork, Lydford Woods
Grid ref: SX 4955 8374
On walking routes: Lydford Gorge Railway Path, Lydford Gorge, Lydford Gorge Waterfall trail, Lydford Gorge, West Devon Way
Alluvial tin streamwork in Lydford Woods represents the small-scale extraction of tin from stream gravels and valley deposits, a practice that flourished on Dartmoor from medieval times through to the early modern period. The landscape here bears the marks of this patient, laborious work: shallow channels, disturbed ground, and the traces of where generations of streamers sifted and washed material in search of tin grains.
Lydford Woods, deep and sheltered in the valley near Lydford, would have offered both water and shelter for this work. Today the site is part of the quieter archaeology of Dartmoor's tin industry, less visible than the great mines and their engine houses, but evidence of the persistent effort that sustained this corner of Devon's economy.
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