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Summary

Remains of a small trackside building (probably a platelayers' hut) on the higher (northeast) side of the Great Western Railway track bed. The building remains comprise a northwest-southeast aligned concrete pad with brick chimney footings at the southeast end.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RAILWAY BUILDING (XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD (Between) to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

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

Visible on aerial photography.

Wakeham, C., 2016, Report on an Audit of Archaeological Features and Structures Relating to Railways and Tramways on Dartmoor Phase 1, DR+T_GWRP_034 (Report - Assessment). SDV360397.

SX 55756 73193. Remains of a small trackside building (probably a platelayers' hut) on the higher (northeast) side of the Great Western Railway track bed. The building remains comprise a northwest-southeast aligned concrete pad with brick chimney footings at the southeast end. The concrete floor measures 3.59m x 1.93m overall and has a rectangular hole along its northeast side. This hole measures 0.25m x 0.51m (minimum) and is aligned northeast to southwest. It is 1.02m in from the northwest end of the building and is cut in from the very edge of the northeast elevation. Remains of a horizontal wooden beam lie against the northwest side of the hole and another beam of 1.37m length is juxtaposed to it, lying against the northern corner. A similar feature - minus the wooden beams - may be seen in at least one other small building site along the Great Western Railway (DR+T_GWRP_025). It is unclear what the outer walls of the building were composed of from physical evidence alone, but an iron and/or wooden superstructure is a possibility. The brick chimney measures 0.67m (northwest to southeast) x 0.93m externally, with projecting footings which increase the measurements to 0.72m and 1.06m (minimum) respectively. It survives to a height of 0.32m (being c.0.1m above the concrete floor surface). A small rectangular concrete footing (with bricks at either end) lies over 1m to the northwest of the building and measures 1.06m (east-west) x 0.48m. It seems likely that this is the base of another, smaller, structure - another feature this building had in common with DR+T_GWRP_025. 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). The hut is visible in a photograph taken by a member of the Taylor family in 1955 (Dartmoor Archive, photograph DA906).
As a building, its condition is very poor (being an utter ruin). There are multiple cracks over the concrete surface, with grass growing through and the western and southern corners have broken away. There is a small amount of bracken encroachment.

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

Depicted on modern map.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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