grebeman
Old Codgers Group
- Name
- Barrie
These granite blocks, 12 in number and partially carved lie abandoned at Swelltor Quarry on Dartmoor. The quarry closed in 1906 and these lie there for all the world like the famous unfinished statues on Easter Island. I understand that somewhere up in one of the quarries lies an assembled pier for London Bridge, or a bridge in London, that were never collected. I would guess these are about 12 feet long including what I take to be un-carved foundations. The distinctive notch in them suggests to me that they were designed to be placed upright as part of a retaining wall.
Are these something the like of which a Londoner passes every day, perhaps on the Thames Embankment. The trade from these quarries started in about 1826 when a horse drawn railway using a gauge of four feet was laid from Plymouth to King's Tor near Princetown, a twisting 25 miles. Thankfully for the horses the loaded direction was downhill. By 1883 much of the trackbed had been taken over by the standard gauge branch line from Yelverton to Princetown, that lasted until 1956, but the various quarries closed down much earlier. When in use the station at Princetown was the highest in England.
One entrance to part of the quarry at Swelltor, looking out from inside the quarry
140514-DP1M0702 by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
The view south east from above another part of the quarry. The looping "path" on the right hand side in the distance is the old railway track bed. It climbs past the quarry and loops round behind the photographers position to emerge out of shot on the left en route to Princetown, a spectacular branch line in its day.
140514-DP1M0695 by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Barrie
Are these something the like of which a Londoner passes every day, perhaps on the Thames Embankment. The trade from these quarries started in about 1826 when a horse drawn railway using a gauge of four feet was laid from Plymouth to King's Tor near Princetown, a twisting 25 miles. Thankfully for the horses the loaded direction was downhill. By 1883 much of the trackbed had been taken over by the standard gauge branch line from Yelverton to Princetown, that lasted until 1956, but the various quarries closed down much earlier. When in use the station at Princetown was the highest in England.
One entrance to part of the quarry at Swelltor, looking out from inside the quarry
140514-DP1M0702 by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
The view south east from above another part of the quarry. The looping "path" on the right hand side in the distance is the old railway track bed. It climbs past the quarry and loops round behind the photographers position to emerge out of shot on the left en route to Princetown, a spectacular branch line in its day.
140514-DP1M0695 by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Barrie