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Horsecombe Mine

Combe Down, Bath.

There are several adits/levels/quarries shown on old OS maps of the Horsecombe Valley.

In 1883 George Dames and his brother Charles Richard Dames leased land in Horsecombe Vale from the Midford Castle estate and opened a mine and processing works for Fuller's earth. The mines extended nearly 8.1 ha through four adits. In 1915 the works was taken over by the Fuller's Earth Union and despite geological problems continued until the end of World War II.

Alternative Names: None recorded.

Notes: Summer use at the newly created Shaft Complex after bat exclusion from Byfield underground stone quarry was not as successful as in winter. In the Springs of 2008 and 2009, Greater horseshoe bats could not be located using any of the Combe Down mines. Later in 2008, many adults moved into Horsecombe Mine and had an unknown number of babies there that summer. It seems that these bats prefer to stay close to the traditional foraging areas identified by the radio-tracking study in 2000, rather than make use of an incubator chamber provided further away