Part 2 Mining the various manganese oxides in the North Devon area including Westdown.
A newspaper article from The North Devon Journal Thursday 1st July 1897,
Psilomelane
This is a very common grey oxide of Manganese, though in many cases it is of a dark blueish black colour and is of a somewhat brittle character. It occurs either in veins of varying thickness or disseminated as ready form and stalactitic masses. Specimens usually fail to show the crystalline structure exhibited by the other well -known oxides of this element.
This together with other forms of manganese has been mined to some considerable extent in the North Devon district in former times, large quantities being raised from Westdown the widely-scattered deposits existing among both the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks, the abandoned workings still bear witness to the extent to which the industry existed. Georgeham, Eastdown, Viveham, Bideford, Barnstaple and places in the vicinity of Buckland Brewer formally yielded Psilomelane in large quantities, while its presence has been detected in many other places. Many of the specimens obtained from these places are remarkable for their purity, and would probably rank of high commercial value did the mineral occur in such quantities as would suffice for its being ‘mined’ at a profit.
At Viveham stalactitic masses of an interesting character have been found, with the ores of iron, haeniatite and limonite.
(Note Viveham mine was off the private farm lane to Viveham by The Muddiford Inn on the road from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe. Some of the miners that lodged at Marwood worked at both Fullabrook and Viveham mines)
Pyrolusite
This is another oxide of manganese varying from steel grey to iron black in colour. Though occasionally found crystalline in prisms possessed of a fibrous structure, or even pseudomorphic after such minerals as calcite and manganite, it is more usually present in amorphous masses, occurring most frequently with the other ores of manganese and the ores of iron. Careful examination will readily lead to its being distinguished from the other ores of Manganese.
It has been found and with the other ores worked to some extent at Viveham, Georgeham and a few other localities. It does not appear to be so widely disseminated in North Devon as Psilomelane
Manganite
This oxide is perhaps the most important form in which magnetic manganese occurs in many rocks. Steel grey to black in colour he has usually a fibro-crystalline structure and though not uncommon in prismatic crystals it is more often obtained in a massive state. Like the other ores of Manganese it is frequently found together with the ores of iron in sandstone rocks
North Devon yields this mineral but sparingly, the best-known localities being Westdown and Viveham. At West down the specimens are occasionally in prismatic crystals but these are very inferior size and form to those yielded by the rocks at Upton Pine near Exeter.
Wad – Earthy Manganese oxide, known as wad is even more sparingly yielded by the North Devon rocks but there can be but little doubt that this form really does occur to a small extent both with the other ores and in arborescent or plant form or plant like forms between the joints of the finer -grained sandstones, these latter being known as Dendrites or dendritic markings, many fine examples of which are yielded by the Marwood and Pickwell Down sandstones,
Rhodonite, Manganese Spar or Rhodonite as it is more generally termed is the only silica of that substance of any importance, it appears to be present in minute quantities associated with Psilomelane found in the Westdown district and also in specimens taken from the old Viveham mines.