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Summary

19th incline plane at New Quay with turntable, water wheel pit and header pond

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 511848

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• INCLINED PLANE (XIX - 1801 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Gaskell Brown , C. + Coleman-Smith, R., 1982, The Archaeology of New Quay, Devon, 139-142 (Article in Serial). SDV336506.

NMR, 1996, SX46NE24 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV336566.

The inclined plane, built c1832, from the top of the lime-kilns to the waterfront. Constructed of random rubble, the ramp originally supported a tramway with iron unflanged rails, probably of 3 feet 6 inches gauge. The system had two turntables, one servicing the lime-kilns, the other a 90 degree branch to the limestone storage yards northeast of the kilns. The waterwheel powered a winding drum which pulled the tramcars. The stone-lined wheel-pit for the wheel which powered the incline tramway system at Newquay survives intact. The wheel would have had a diameter of 8 feet 6 inches, and a maximum width of 3 feet 6 inches. The water supply was taken from a leat on the hill above and in 1867 was stored in a reservoir immediately northwest of the wheelpit (citing Gaskell Brown + Coleman-Smith).

Mills, R. + Murrell, D. + Vandenbossche, P. + Watts, S., 1997, An Archaeological Assessment of the East Side of the River Tamar between Calstock and Gunnislake (Undergraduate Dissertation). SDV242446.

Buck, C., 2003, Morwellham & Newquay, Devon (Report - non-specific). SDV241179.

Buck, C., 2006, New Quay: Archaeological Assessment, 18-20 (Report - Assessment). SDV336511.

The 1832 & later maps show an incline plane at New Quay (Sites 8, 8.1-8.3). It was built in 1825 & appears to have followed the expansion of the lime kilns & was raised in the 1850s. The incline plane was powered by a water wheel (Site 8.2) at SX4542169632 from a header pond (Site 8.3) at SX 4543169642. The turntable (Site 8.1) at SX4536369586 was used to transfer trucks from the rails next to the quay up the incline to the storage areas. Other details: Fig 8, 12-14.

Team Surveys, 2009, New Quay, Devon, 8 (Plan - measured). SDV356725.

Ordnance Survey, 2014, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV355681.

Houghton, P., 2015, An Archaeological and Historical Report on New Quay Nr Tavistock Devon Volume One, 40-42, fig 8, 41-44 (Report - Assessment). SDV363202.

Incline plane was built in 1825, following completion of a similar incline at Morwellham Lime Kiln, when two further limekilns were added to the original one. According to Waterhouse (personal comment, 09/12/2014) this later example was constructed in timber. The incline was powered by a water wheel, fed by a leat from the George and Charlotte Mine, which continued to the Bedford Consols Mine at Gawton.
The water wheel was connected to a winding drum to haul wagons containing limestone and coal to the storage area behind the lime kilns. At New Quay in the late 19th century additional tram lines were built along the top of the storage area walls which probably had strengthening buttresses that enabled goods to be unloaded directly into the relevant bay using a tipping mechanism. A turntable was used to transfer tramway trucks from the rails to the storage areas/bays behind the kilns.
The incline plane is constructed from random rubble and leads from the waterfront quay north of the dock to the upper levels of the lime kiln wells. The lowest part is 1.5 metres but the side walls have been buttressed by around 0.9 metres for around 10 metres to a maximum height of 3.6 metres. There is an arched opening within the structure (fig 43), approximately 2.6 metres high, 2.2 metres wide, to give access to the north quay.
Another arch gives access to the northern wall of the lime kilns, but this is partly blocked with stones (fig 44).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV3956 - New Quay, Devon: Archaeological Assessment
• EDV3982 - Morwellham & Newquay, Devon
• EDV6507 - Survey of New Quay (Ref: 090239)
• EDV8147 - Watching brief during vegetation clearance works at New Quay

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