| AN INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF
SHAUGH
BRIDGE AND SURROUNDING
AREA
COMPILED BY GRAHAM
EAGLE, DISTRICT COMMISSIONER FOR PLYMOUTH SCOUTS, FROM MANY DIFFERENT
SOURCES
Plus
The Industrial Archaeology of The Dewerstone
Woods
Supplied by David Compton of Shaugh
Prior
Graham Eagle. Granite was not
quarried on Dartmoor until the early 1800s. Before this
surface granite – known as “Moorstone”, was ample for all needs. Quarrying on
the Dewerstone has been in existence long before the railway, with the granite
being removed by horse drawn vehicles. In 1850 a quarrying firm (Johnson &
Johnson), their hope of commercial expansion being raised by the building of the
SDTR, commenced operation. Johnson & Johnson, who later became the Haytor
Granite Company, who also ran the Foggintor quarries, set about building a
railway system to transport the granite across the Meavy to a siding alongside
the main line.
Much if the
industrialisation of the area around
Shaugh
Bridge and the Dewerstone happened
because of the building of the
Plymouth to Tavistock Railway
through the valley.
·
Shaugh
Bridge. The original
Shaugh
Bridge, which has stood for nearly
400 years, was washed away by flooding in January 1823. Severe snow, followed by
a thaw and heavy rain caused the river to rise some 12ft above the normal level
with catastrophic effects.
·
NO EMIE Mine. The mine opened in 1874 and operated for
about 3 years. The mine was on the Dewerstone side of the junction of the Rivers
Meavy and Plym. Initially adits were dug from the Plym and Meavy sides into the
centre of the hillside and later a vertical shaft was sunk. Later (1881) the
area was again worked by a Ferro-ceramic clay company but was the sold up in
1883. The long channel with two walls was a kiln of unusual and patented (Casper
& Bragdon) design for firing the Ferro-ceramic bricks. The metal wagons
loaded with bricks were wheeled in and the kiln fired. Some years later a caving
group from Plymouth explored the
mineshaft and reported a large chasm, which they could not cross. Eventually the
mine collapsed and the shaft was filled in to prevent animals from falling into
it. A leat, waterwheel and smithy were also in existence around the
area.
·
Clay Drying Kilns. The drying kilns and loading bays (which
now form one side of he car park at Shaugh Bridge) were constructed to handle
the china clay brought in slurry form from Cadover along a pipe, were built in
the 1880s. Here the clay was dried out and transferred to the railway by branch
line to Shaugh Platform. It is recorded that there was a small cottage on the
site* and that the workers on the kilns had to wear wooden clogs of considerable
thickness to protect them from the heat.
·
Below Shaugh
Bridge, on the left bank, is a Paper
Mill dating back to 1756.
·
Various footbridges have existed over the Plym at different
stages in history. The site of the current footbridge probably started life as
the place where the Ferro-ceramic bricks crossed the river. A Mr Robert D
Stribley built a wooden footbridge, which stood at this point from the early
1950s, when he was the Scoutmaster of the 1st Crownhill Scout Group.
A flood in 1988 weakened this bridge and the National Trust removed it. The
present laminated bridge was erected in July 1989.
*The cottage
was occupied by The Pundsack family in 1949. They moved to Wotter within a few
years. I went to school with Brian Pundsack and it was he who first told me the
story of Dewer the Hunstsman. This is also the cottage I mention in my book
which was used as an HQ by the Royal Marines on the exercise. Don
Balkwill.



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