Index - Industrial History

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 1^st 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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