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Summary

A quarry known as Rubble Heap which is part of the Haytor Quarry complex, lies NW of Haytor Rock. It was worked from the 1820s to the late 1850s and it was served by a branch of the Haytor Granite Tramway (SX 77 NW 76 ): several sets of granite rails remain in situ.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX77NE51
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1221072
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX77NE/73

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• QUARRY (Constructed, XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD (Between) to 1900 AD (Between))
• TRAMWAY (Constructed, XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD (Between) to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Adams, E. A., 1946, The Old Heytor Granite Railway, 153-160 (Article in Serial). SDV341504.

Quarry known as Rubble Heap to the north-west of Haytor Rocks, for granite working. This is the start of the Haytor Granite Tramway proper with continuous setts in situ.

Ewans, M. C., 1977, The Haytor Granite Tramway and Stover Canal (Monograph). SDV341543.

National Monuments Record, 1980, NMR SF1746, 117 (Aerial Photograph). SDV294996.

Photograph taken on 21st April 1980.

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

Visible and recorded.

Devon County Council + Teignbridge District Council, 1985, Haytor Granite Tramway and Stover Canal (Report - non-specific). SDV349496.

Everett, C., 1988, Haytor Down - Summary of Archaeological Features, HD4, Map 2 (Report - Survey). SDV359684.

Rubble Heap Quarry of 19th century.

Harris, H., 1994, The Haytor Granite Tramway and Stover Canal, 21, 25 (Monograph). SDV341541.

Rubble Heap Quarry. Approached by branch of granite tramway along a narrow cutting. Additional waste from the main quarry was dumped at Rubble Heap. The Haytor Quarries were developed by George Templer from 1813.

Newman, P., 1999, 2002, Haytor Down, Ilsington, Devon (Revised), 27-29, Figure 13 (Report - Survey). SDV346395.

(30/05/1999) Centred Rubble Heap Quarry SX 7554 7729 on the north-western slopes of Haytor Rock and west of the main Haytor quarry.
The working area consists of a 0.15ha pit enclosed by near vertical granite quarry faces of approximately 10m deep. Access to the quarry was via a curved steep-sided cutting with a 'V' profile which leaves the quarry on the west side and heads north-east to open out onto the moor. A tramway, of which only a few granite sets remain visible, ran along the floor of this gully leading back to a junction with the main trunk 120m to the north of the quarry. The floor of the gully is extremely narrow at a little over 1m wide in places, only just wide enough for tram wagons. As the gully opens into the quarry area a stone revetment runs along the sides of the tramway. Overburden from the quarry is dumped to north and south adjacent to the quarry pit, as is some of the material removed when the access gully was created. These dumps survive as turf and heather covered mounds which demonstrate clearly the directions of the barrow runs when dumping was taking place. Work probably commenced at the lower north-west end, where the heaps are partly overlain by those on the slope above them. Much of the deeper material from the gully was probably dumped on the three confluent finger dumps which extend for 100m away from the exit to the north-west. The largest of these has a spread of 20m and is 6m high. Tramway spurs serving the spoil heaps are visible, leading from the quarry exit and some granite sets survive in place. Amid the spoil heaps are some very large blocks of angular, cut granite and further quantities of this material are spread on the ground in the area of the heaps.
A well-built drystone wall 1m thick runs along the top of the spoil heaps, curving to the north and terminating at the tramway which runs along the foot of the heaps. An opening part way along the wall, allowed the tramway to pass through onto the southern heap. The purpose of this wall, which is probably incomplete, is obscure. The remains of a very ruined structure survive attached to the south-west terminal of the wall, near the tramway exit.
Harris(1994,25) has suggested that some of the waste stone at Rubble Heap quarry was transported from other Haytor quarries. This is unlikely as the waste here is proportionate to the size of the quarry and that haulage of waste from Holwell or Haytor quarries would have been time consuming and unnecessary. For plan and further details see RCHME 1999.
For historical details see Ewans (1964) and Harris (1994).

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 2002, Haytor Down: The Archaeology (Plan - measured). SDV359685.

Rubble Heap Quarry shown on survey.

English Heritage, 2005, Survey Information (miscellaneous date) (Report - Survey). SDV345855.

Outline of quarry shown on survey. Map object partly based on this source.

Ordnance Survey, 2016, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359352.

Quarry shown on modern mapping. Map object partly based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7021 - Haytor Down: Survey Report (Ref: A1/2/1999)

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