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Summary

Millhill Slate Quarry shown on 19th century map to the north of Higher Lumburn Bridge. The quarry was transcribed from aerial photographs as part of the Tamar Valley NMP survey.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX47SE/20
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX47SE33

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• QUARRY (Early Medieval to XXI - 1066 AD to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

Lysons, D. + Lysons, S., 1822, Magna Britannica, 29 (Monograph). SDV323771.

Mill Hill Quarry. Slate named as one of the principal slate quarries in Devon although in 1822 "the quantity of slate has much diminished".

de la Beche, H. T., 1839, Report on the Geology of Cornwall, Devon and West Somerset, 503 (Monograph). SDV337075.

Mentioned as a source of roofing slate.

Hadfield, C., 1967, Canals of South West England, 132 (Monograph). SDV58.

New slate quarries were opened at Millhill, but it was not a success.

Booker, F., 1967, Industrial Archaeology of the Tamar Valley, 123 (Monograph). SDV240774.

In 18th/19th centuries Mill Hill slates much used for cisterns, chimney pieces, and for hanging on west-facing walls. Lax period 1830-1844.

Minchinton, W. E., 1973, Industrial Archaeology in Devon, 29 (Monograph). SDV7016.

The Mill Hill Slate Quarries have been in continuous use for 400 years and produce an attractive blue-black slate much used in Tavistock and in local farm buildings for walling, chimneys and water tanks. In the 18th century much of the slate was exported to the Channel Islands.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX47SE33 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV342553.

Millhill Slate Quarries have been in continuous use for 400 years and produce an attractive blue-black slate much used in Tavistock and in local farm buildings for walling, chimneys and water tanks. In the 18th century much of this slate was exported to the Channel Islands. Industrial Archaeology of Devon 1976, 29 (Minchinton, W.)

Griffiths, D. M., 1983, Untitled Source (Personal Comment). SDV342550.

Quarry now being re-worked. Although some of the 19th century spoil-heaps survive, none of the old quarry buildings remain.

1983, Untitled Source (Worksheet). SDV342552.

A branch of the Tavistock Canal, the Mill Hill cut was built in 1819 to serve the quarry. The 19th century quarry is mapped in various documents in the Devon record Office, which suggest an increase in the area quarried in the latter part of the century. Between 1842 and 1857 Mill Hill mill was taken over and used as quarry buildings, eg, a smithy, and the mill leat used to serve a new drawing machine. Other details: Plans.

Born, A., 1988, Blue slate quarrying in South Devon: An ancient industry, 64-5 (Article in Serial). SDV338673.

Large old and modern workings, in use. Old workings obliterated. Traces of canal remaining to the south.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1991, An Assessment of Copper Mining in Devon (Copper, Brass, Tin), 2,16 (Report - Assessment). SDV60709.

Other details: Tavistock Hamlets Parish File.

Bowman, A., 1993, List of Quarries (Un-published). SDV336564.

Quarry owned by the Duke of Bedford's estate until 1914. Owned by Alfred Spear in 1919.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 2001-2002, Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme Transcriptions and Database Records, RAF/CPE/UK/250/4100-1 (Interpretation). SDV346287.

A range of quarry pits, spoilheaps and trackways were recorded as earthworks alongside small structures, from aerial photograph RAF/CPE/UK/250/4100-1.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2016, Backlog Recording of the Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme Survey (Personal Comment). SDV359374.

The aerial photograph reference given in the transcription attributes is incomplete. The date of the photograph is not known.

Waterhouse, R., 2017, The Tavistock Canal. Its History and Archaeology, 251-2, figs 8.1-8.3 (Monograph). SDV361789.

Slate has been quarried at Mill Hill since the 16th century and three of the large group of quarries relate directly to the Collateral Cut (1819-20), constructed to take the slate to Morwellham. See publication for further details and plans.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6911 - Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme

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