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Summary

Group of industrial buildings shown on 19th century and early 20th century maps associated with Brent Moor China Clay Works and possibly adapted from the earlier naphtha works

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SE/112

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• INDUSTRIAL BUILDING (XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD to 1844 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Four rectangular features shown on 19th century map. Two are shown as attached with an adjoining enclosure to the south. Another rectangular feature is shown to the north and another to the west. A small rectangular stucture is shown to the south-east with tha label 'Weighing Machine'.

Crossing, W., 1888, Amid Devonia's Alps; or Wanderings and Adventures on Dartmoor, 34 (Monograph). SDV152959.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Two adjoining rectangular buildings shown on early 20th century map with a rectangular building to the north, a rectangular building to the west, a sub-square enclosure to the south and a small L-shaped building to the south-east.

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor, 71 (Monograph). SDV320981.

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Group of industrial buildings shown on mid 20th century aerial photograph.

Harris, H., 1968, Industrial Archaeology of Dartmoor, 109,221 (Monograph). SDV149229.

Gill, C. (ed.), 1970, Dartmoor: a New Study, 130 (Monograph). SDV161800.

Minchinton, W. E., 1976, Industrial Archaeology in Devon, 26 (Monograph). SDV7016.

Naphtha Works, Shipley Bridge. Naphtha is an inflammable oil derived from the distillation of peat and used for making gas and candles. In 1844, Peter Adams and Jacob Hall Drew of Plymouth started a naphtha works, first at Batchelor's Hall near Princetown, and then at the Princetown Prison, which was lit by gas and candles made at the plant. A railway was made to the peat beds at Holming Beam and Greena Ball; at the same time works were also started at Shipley Bridge to use the peat beds at Redlake. The ruins are intermixed with those of the South Brent Clayworks.

Thomas, D. St. J., 1981, A Regional History of Railways of Great Britain, 91 (Monograph). SDV168.

Robinson, R., 1984, Survey Drawing of Brent Moor China Clay Works (Report - Survey). SDV151626.

Site visited in August 1978. The ground plan is given on a document of 1855, concerning china clay leases and is reproduced on the worksheet in the parish file. There was a square granite chimney to the works. The building to the south has vertical openings in its west wall which appear to be chutes to the interior. To the west is a granite-built rectangular enclosure which appears to have been roofless originally. Above this on the hillside is the termination of the tramway and it would seem that the peat was trapped in this enclosure before being passed through the chutes to the processing area. The business was wound up in 1850 and the buildings subsequently re-used by the short lived Brent Moor Clay company in 1872. Detailed description of remaining structures on worksheet in parish file.

Newman, P., 2002, Shipley Bridge China-Clay Works, South Brent, 6 8, Figures 2-3, Plate 7 (Report - Survey). SDV360363.

Thickening Tank 19: The thickening tank is an upstanding masonry building which may have been adapted from an earlier structure associated with the naptha works. The building is cut into the base of the slope and is 29 metres long by 7.4 metres wide. The reinforced front wall is 2.1 metres thick. The brick paved floor has a slight gradient to allow for drainage. Large pipes set near the top of the rear wall brought the clay into the structure. The eastern wall has five 0.6 metre wide vertical openings with buttresses on the outside allowing the moist clay powder into the drying pan below

Ordnance Survey, 2017, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359962.

One rectangular building shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7367 - Shipley Bridge China Clay Works, South Brent (Ref: AI/35/2002)

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