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Summary

An irregularly shaped pit and associated mounds, probably the remains of a quarry of post-medieval to 19th century date, are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards, at the southern edge of unenclosed moorland west of Bittaford.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX65NE/271

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• QUARRY? (Post Medieval to XIX - 1540 AD? to 1880 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, Devon County Council RAF/CPE/UK/1890 RP 3166-3167 10-DEC-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

A pit and mound are visible as earthworks.

Cambridge Committee for Aerial Photography, 1969, CAP/NCC/RC8/F/G, CAP/NCC/RC8/F/G VF 7-8 28-MAR-1969 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363628.

A pit and mound are visible as earthworks.

National Monuments Record, 1969, SX6557, 2/ 7-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV165212.

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

Possible quarry of less than 0.1 hectares in area visible on the 1969 National Monuments Record aerial photograph. Leat MDV3069 may relate to this quarry ending near or at it. On the Ordnance Survey map this quarry is in the area marked as a reservoir.

GeoInformation Group Ltd, 2010, 1:625 2010 Colour (12.5cm resolution) (Aerial Photograph). SDV346026.

An area visible on the modern mapping roughly matches that depicted in the 1985 aerial project.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: South Devon to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX6556-SX6557 Tellus DTM 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV361514.

A pit and mound are identifible as earthworks.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2020, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

An irregularly shaped up to circa 30m across is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards at the southern edge of unenclosed moorland west of Bittaford. The pit contains, and is bounded on its downslope side by, irregularly shaped mounds.
The visible earthworks do not correspond with any pits depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1880s 25inch First Edition map. A reservoir noted on this map relates to a covered reservoir depicted immediately to the south, probably unrelated to the pit.
The visible earthworks are probably the remains of a quarry and associated spoil heaps of post-medieval to 19th century date that had passed out of use prior to circa 1880.
The pit is joined on its north-east side by the terminus of an extensive leat of unknown date (MDV3069). It is unclear if the leat and quarry are functionally associated, but it is probable that erosion arising from the flow of water from the leat has contributed to the pits’ irregular shape.
Hollows to the south and south-east might be the remains of tracks accessing the quarry, or simply evidence of erosion.
The earthworks remain clearly identifiable on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)

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