Whiteworks is a small settlement south of Princetown, close to Fox Tor Mire, and owes its existence and its name to a mine.
The mine
William Crossing writes that the place owes its existence and its name to a mine. It had been closed for some years when he wrote, but "the evidences of it are abundant around the few dwellings that now constitute the place". He remembered when two large waterwheels were to be seen revolving there, and when the blacksmith's hammer was constantly heard ringing on the anvil. For some time the mine was worked by Mr Moses Bawden of Tavistock.
The leat and the mire
Clive Gunnell also says White Works is named after the mine worked by Moses Bawden of Tavistock. Between White Works and Fox Tor to the south-east is a flat waste known as Fox Tor Mire, "one of the few really dangerous bogs on the moor". The Devonport Leat makes a half circle at Peat Cot, curving round the contour of the hill, past White Works towards Nun's Cross, where it meets the high granite bed between the Dart and the Meavy and goes into a tunnel.
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