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Summary

Remains of a small trackside building (probably a platelayers' hut) on the higher (southern) side of the Great Western Railway track bed. The building remains comprise a northeast-southwest aligned concrete pad with brick chimney footings at the northeast end. The concrete floor measures 3.6m x 2.11m overall and has three rectangular holes along its northwest side.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RAILWAY BUILDING (XIX - 1850 AD (Between) to 1880 AD (Between))

Full description

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 2015 onwards, 2015 onward Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV362959.

Wakeham, C., 2016, Report on an Audit of Archaeological Features and Structures Relating to Railways and Tramways on Dartmoor Phase 1, DR+T_GWRP_025 (Report - Assessment). SDV360397.

Building (ruin) at SX 55478 73984. Remains of a small trackside building (probably a platelayers' hut) on the higher (southern) side of the Great Western Railway track bed. The building remains comprise a northeast-southwest aligned concrete pad with brick chimney footings at the northeast end. The concrete floor measures 3.6m x 2.11m overall and has three rectangular holes along its northwest side. Two of these holes are small (measuring 6.5cm x 8cm and 7cm x 7cm), spaced 1.1m apart and set in 7-8cm from the edge of the concrete pad. They appear suitable for upright wooden posts - perhaps to support the superstructure. The third hole is larger (measuring 0.38m x 1.09m) and aligned northwest to southeast. It is 0.51m in from the southwest end of the building and is cut in from the very edge of the northwest elevation. This feature may be seen in at least one of the other small building sites along the Great Western Railway (DR+T_GWRP_034), where it seems to have accommodated a horizontal wooden beam. The brick chimney measures 0.91m (northwest to southeast) x 0.66m externally and had an interior of just 0.45m x 0.23m. It survives to a height of 0.3m (0.1m above the concrete floor surface). A small sub-rectangular concrete footing lies 0.33m to the southwest of the building and measures 1.33m (northwest to southeast) x 0.47m maximum. It has two rectangular indentations cut 1cm into the northeast elevation. They measure 7.5cm and 8.5cm in length. It is possible that this is the base of another, smaller, structure. There is a small amount of rubble - chiefly from the brick chimney -strewn down the hillside on the opposite side of the track bed. The building does not appear on either the first or second edition 1:2500 OS maps (Devon sheet CVI.11), suggesting it post-dates 1904 (the year of the second edition revision). Part of the hut is visible in a photograph taken by a member of the Taylor family on 30/3/1956 (Dartmoor Archive, photograph DA905). It shows the hut to have had walls of boarded construction, a monopitch roof sloping down to the north and a top-tilting window in the north elevation (in a position roughly over the 0.38m x 1.09m slot).
As a building, its condition is very poor (being an utter ruin). As a ruin, it appears to be in a relatively stable condition.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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