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Summary

The Shillamill aqueduct was built to cross a public road known as Deep Lane, which ran from the Callington road just west of Tavistock down the hill to Shillamill in the Tavy Valley, beside the older road to Bere Alston. The Shillamill Aqueduct was built so that the Tavistock Canal could cross the road. The road was abandoned in 1883 and when the branch of the railway track was built in the late 1880s, it failed to provide an overbridge.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Structures, earthworks and below-ground mining features associated with Wheal Crebor Mine including a former canal and railway, east of Buctor Farm

Other References/Statuses

• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• TRACKWAY (XVIII to XIX - 1750 AD? to 1883 AD (Pre))

Full description

Buck, C., 2009, Tavistock Canal Devon: Interim Archaeological Report, 5; Figure 3 (Report - Interim). SDV345014.

Buck, C., 2013, Tavistock Canal, Devon: Archaeological Impact and Recording Report, 9-12, 14-15; Figures1, 5-11 (Report - non-specific). SDV356300.

Buck, C., 2015, Buctor Farm, Tavistock (Report - Assessment). SDV359746.

This study was commissioned by the landowner on behalf of Natural England as part of a Higher Level Environmental Stewardship Agreement Scheme and produced by Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Cornwall Council.
The Shillamill track is shown on all historic mapping up to 1883 (Fig 13). The lane provided access to the outfields north of Shillamill, the main Tavistock to Gunnislake turnpike road (constructed in 1803), and then largely abandoned after the railway cut its course, and of course settlements towards Tavistock. By 1883 the track and aqueduct bridge had become a cattle creep.
Survey: Only a small section of this track (at the edge of a field above Shillamill) is now visible. Its past importance is testament to the Canal Company’s need in 1803 to build an aqueduct bridge over the track (Site 18.1). It was subsequently rebuilt in iron in 1839.
Significance: Low
The hedge remnants of this feature merit a low significance rating.
Recommendation: The access track hedge (east side) should be repaired where appropriate replicating adjacent hedging styles.

Waterhouse, R., 2017, The Tavistock Canal. Its History and Archaeology, 76-7, figs 4.2-4.4 (Monograph). SDV361789.

The Shillamill aqueduct was built to cross a public road known as Deep Lane, which ran from the Callington road just west of Tavistock down the hill to Shillamill in the Tavy Valley, beside the older road to Bere Alston. It was abandoned in 1883 and when the London and South Western Railway built its Waterloo to Plymouth trunk line down the Tavy Valley in the late 1880s, it failed to provide an accommodation overbridge. Its former course can still be seen as a hollow running up the hillside north of the canal and as a partly overgrown farm track south of the canal.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7058 - Archaeological Management Plan, Buctor Farm, Tavistock (Ref: 2015R055)

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