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Summary

Quarrying here dates to the early 19th century, based on documentary evidence. Depicted on the First Edition (1880s) Ordnance Survey map, by the early 20th century they are marked as 'Old Quarries', but were reworked in the 1930s for waste granite.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthwork and structural remains on Walkhampton Common including 19th century Swelltor and Foggintor Quarries, a section of the early 19th century Plymouth and Dartmoor Tramway, later converted to railway, also streamworks along the Yes Tor Brook

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57SE/180
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CRANE (Constructed, XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD (Between) to 1880 AD (Between))
• GRANITE QUARRY (Constructed, XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD (Between) to 1880 AD (Between))
• SPOIL HEAP (Constructed, XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD (Between) to 1880 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Old Quarry' marked on early 20th century (1906) historic map at Ingra Tor.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Quarry depicted on the late 19th century historic map.

Beckerlegge, J. J., 1937, 6th Report of the Plymouth and District Branch, 220 (July 1936) (Article in Serial). SDV339417.

Ingra Tor - Johnson's Quarries. These quarries, originally early 19th century, have recently been opened for the waste granite.

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/2149, 4441 (Aerial Photograph). SDV282746.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Visible on aerial photographs and recorded on map overlay.

Stanier, P., 1986, Granite quarrying in Devon and Cornwall, 22 (Article in Serial). SDV283053.

English Heritage, 1996, Monument Protection Programme, Stone Quarrying, Step 2 Shortlist (Un-published). SDV351124.

Leedon Tor proto-quarries, Dartmoor. Fine group of shallow, flat-bottomed linear hollows typical of surface extraction of detached stone. Various quarries recorded in the area but attached the source to this one monument.

Wakeham, C., 2016, Report on an Audit of Archaeological Features and Structures Relating to Railways and Tramways on Dartmoor Phase 1, DR+T_IQ_002, 003, 004 (Report - Assessment). SDV360397.

[DR+T_IQ_002] Granite sett at SX 55570 72207. Granite sett, measuring 0.63m by 0.44m by at least 0.28m (depth), lying to the west of the entrance to the Ingra Tor quarry face. It has two c.2.5cm diameter holes set 10cm apart in its upper surface. It lies a few metres back from the Great Western Railway track bed and it is possible that it is a discarded tramway sett from the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway. Another possibility is that it originated from a spoil tip tramway emanating from Ingra Tor Quarry - in which case other setts may lie amid the clitter at Ingra Tor.
The sett is in good condition.
[DR+T_IQ_003] Crane bases at SX 55577 72135. Pair of adjacent circular crane bases in Ingra Tor Quarry. Both are built of coursed granite and are c.0.6m high. The western crane base is almost egg-shaped in plan, having a short straight edge of 2.15m (in the northwest) rather than tapering to a point. It is 5.7m (northwest-southeast) by 4.55m. A 1.2m by c.1.8m rectangular hole, aligned NNE-SSW is located at the centre of the main, more circular, southeast part of the base. It is the same depth as the crane base itself. The eastern crane base is slightly elliptical, being c.4.7m north-south by c.4.5m. There is a partly obscured hole at the centre of this crane base (0.8m+ by 1.2m+). The two crane bases are only 2.6m apart, suggesting one may have been a successive position and the crane was moved across from one to the other. There is no obvious trace of a tramway leading into the quarry, but the nature of spoil tip DR+T_IQ_004 to the north suggests a tramway must have at least been run up close to the quarry mouth and presumably somewhere within the range of the cranes mounted on these bases.
The upper surfaces of the crane bases are covered in grass. The main stonework appears to be structurally sound, but the hole at the centre of the eastern crane base is partly blocked up with stones and bracken. The hole in the western crane base is filled with reeds and reeds are encroaching around both.
[DR+T_IQ_004] Spoil heap at SX 55582 72243. Forked spoil tip to the north of Ingra Tor Quarry. It runs northwards from beside the Princetown Branch track bed somewhere in the vicinity of SX 55586 72216 for over 55m to SX 55585 72263. A second spur (c.13m in length) runs off the main tip about 14m back to the south from this point. This spur runs out to SX 55592 72257. It is likely that a portable track was laid from somewhere near the quarry mouth out, across the former Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway, in order to create this spoil heap.
The spoil tip is grassed over and appears to be in generally good condition.

Ordnance Survey, 2018, MasterMap 2018 (Cartographic). SDV360652.

Modern mapping shows the area of the quarry and spoil heap (to the north of the line of the tramway).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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