Wheal Eliza Mine

Wheal Eliza Mine was an unsuccessful copper and iron mine on the River Barle near Simonsbath on Exmoor in the English county of Somerset. The first mining activity on the site may be from 1552. The mine was originally called Wheal Maria, then changed to Wheal Eliza. It was one of the projects undertaken by the Knight family after they bought large parts of Exmoor in the early 19th century. Frederick Knight (MP) took over from his father in trying to exploit the mineral assets of the land. Several adits were driven into the rock and a 300 feet (91 m) shaft dug. It was a copper mine from 1845–54, although no copper was extracted, despite samples showing 60% metallic ore. It was then examined by Henry Schneider, of Schneider Hannay & Co which became the Barrow Hematite Steel Company, during 1856-57 for iron although none was found. The mine was soon abandoned and allowed to flood. In 1858 the area became notorious for the murder of a seven-year-old girl, Anna Burgess. On the death of her mother she moved with her father, William Burgess, into lodgings in Simonsbath. His older children went into domestic service. Burgess was supported by The Reverend W. H. Thornton (1830-1916) who was the first vicar of Exmoor. The parson raised money to support Burgess, but this was spent on alcohol. In June 1858 he left his lodgings with his daughter, telling the landlady that he was taking her

Mine data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).