More information : SS 676492 There is a limekiln at Woody Bay. (1)
(SS 67684896) Limekiln (NAT). (2)
SS 67688 48978. This lime kiln is built into the base of the steep NE-facing cliffs about 8m above the rocky beach at Woody Bay.
According to Bridle (3) it was built in 1753 and the schedule of the tithe apportionments of 1840 termed William Dovell the occupier of "Weddesbays and Lime Kiln". (It is shown, but not annotated, on the 1842 Tithe Map 4.) John Delbridge, of Woody Bay Cottage, worked as a lime-burner according to the 1871 and 1881 census returns (3) and the lime kiln has not been worked since the turn of the century. (The kiln bowl shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1889 (5) is not shown on the 1904 Edition 6.)
The stone built semi-circular kiln, about 9m in diameter and 5m high, has been renovated. The central pot bowl has been filled in and levelled to make a seated viewpoint. Around the east side there are three corbelled draw holes, or lobbies, with flat slabbed roofs. The most northerly draw hole is 2.5m wide and 3m high but is now used as a store and blocked off by a door so no internal details were discernible. The other two draw hoes are also 2.5m wide and 3m high and some 3m to 4m deep. They have rectangular stoke holes; the southern draw hole has a ledge set in the south wall used for heating the limeburners food. The kiln top is reached by a loading ramp from the north. As well as the road from the north the kiln is approached from the beach by a cobbled slipway and the draw holes are serviced by a level working area 1.6m to 2.4m wide around the east side.
Published Survey (1974) 1:2500 Accepted. (7) |