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Summary

Long rectangular southeast-facing granite building, about 15-20m to the west of the Foggintor track (MDV134438). It is built of coursed granite bonded with a creamy white lime mortar. It measures 29m northeast-southwest by 6.2m.

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/112/3
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• INDUSTRIAL BUILDING (Built, XVIII to Early 20th Century - 1800 AD (Between) to 1920 AD (Between))

Full description

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

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

Royal Air Force, 1949, RAF/540/226, 5730 (Aerial Photograph). SDV231367.

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

Industrial building visible on RAF 1951 aerial image at SX56557364 and recorded in project.

Wakeham, C., 2016, Report on an Audit of Archaeological Features and Structures Relating to Railways and Tramways on Dartmoor Phase 1, DR+T_FQ_026 (Report - Assessment). SDV360397.

Building (ruin) at SX 56553 73647. Long rectangular southeast-facing granite building, about 15-20m to the west of the Foggintor track (MDV134438). It is built of coursed granite bonded with a creamy white lime mortar. It measures 29m northeast-southwest by 6.2m. Some of its masonry still stands to c.1.9m in height. It is composed of at least two construction phases. Initially it appears it was constructed with a largely open southeastern frontage with a series of coursed stone pillars of c.1.2 by 0.6m (five of which are still traceable). Walling was then added in between, probably in more than one further phase. At least some of the internal walls are probably secondary additions. It is divided internally into at least five identifiable compartments by walls varying in thickness from 0.5m to 1.1m. The compartments are all in the region of 4.9m northwest-southeast. The rounded off northeast-southwest dimensions of the compartments are, from the northeast: 4.85m, 8.4m, 7m, 1.9m and 2.25m. The two compartments at the northeast end may have had separate entrances in the southeast elevation, but it is difficult to be sure as this end of the building is more ruinous than the other. The other three compartments seem to have shared a common entrance: a 1.16m wide doorway, 3.48m from the outer south corner. This doorway led to the central room from which the other two were accessible. The room to the northwest was accessible via a 0.75m wide doorway/opening at the east corner and the other room was accessed through a 1.31m wide doorway/opening at the western corner. This last compartment appears to have been later subdivided by a northeast-southwest aligned wall reducing it to two compartments of c.3.1m and c.1.4m. On 10th September 1841, Sir Ralph Lopes' Estate Steward, George Giles, reported seeing two long buildings "supported on tall granite posts" at the granite works. One of these was used as a large stone masons' workshop and had a two-stall stable attached to one end (P&WDRO 874/21/3). This may be that building, the southwest compartment, perhaps, being the stable. The other appears to be MDV134458. Opposite the front of the long building is a 0.8m high, stone-faced terrace. It is over 4m in width (northwest-southeast) and is 1.6m from the building at the northeast end and 2.5m at the southwest end. This may have been a platform to which material was delivered to the workshops. There are no clear signs of a tramway upon it or of how it may have been integrated into the quarry's tramway system, but a considerable number of alterations took place at Foggintor over the years. There is a smaller building built into the side of a spoil tip a few metres to the southwest of the long building. It does not appear to have been connected to the long building, although its northwest wall is on a comparable alignment.
The building is ruinous and has been since before 1883 and parts of its layout have become obscured by rubble over the years. There are several large clumps of reeds within the ruin and within the space between the building and the terrace/platform to its southeast. Otherwise the ruin appears structurally stable.

Ordnance Survey, 2023, Mastermap 2023 (Cartographic). SDV365227.

Ruins depicted on the modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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