Shaugh Mining Area
Shaugh Bridge, where the Meavy and Plym meet involves a 300m detour from the cycle path at Shaugh Holt platform.

Mining History of Shaugh Bridge and Dewerstone Woods

by Steve Roberts, Plymouth Mineral & Mining Club

Few of the visitors to Shaugh Bridge realise that the car park occupies the site of a china clay drying plant. The large retaining walls of the 'dry' are still apparent with the settling tanks further up the hill. This might appear to be a strange choice of location for a dry, as the nearest china clay was two miles away at Watts, Blake and Bearne's Wigford Down pit, but it reduced the distance the finished product had to be hauled. The clay flowed from the pits to the dry along a pipeline as a suspension. After drying the clay blocks were then transported a relatively short distance by road to the railway sidings at Bickleigh.

The conversion from clay dry to car park took place in the 1950 's, but several local inhabitants remember working there. A popular walk involves following the course of the pipeline from Cadover Bridge. Much of it is still plainly visible, some sections being ceramic and some cast iron with occasional inspection hatches along its length.

Ferro-Ceramic Mine and Brickworks
This is situated at SX535638, in the V-shaped confluence of the rivers Meavy and Plym at Shaugh Bridge. The 6" 0.S. map of 1904 clearly shows the long, parallel walls of the brick kiln and the kite-shaped structures presumed to be settling tanks. It labels two concerns - 'Shaugh Works (disused)' and 'Ferro-Ceramic Mine (disused)'. This would tend to indicate that the two were separate concerns or possibly that the brickworks was not dependent for its raw material solely upon the adjacent mine.

It seems highly likely that iron ore from Shaugh Iron Mine, a deep openwork half a mile away which did not meet the standard required for smelting may have been utilised by the brickworks after some sort of grinding operation. One school of thought suggests that the occurence of ochreous clay in this location is unlikely, the country rock being granite, but there are two possibilities; either the material extracted may have been only partially decomposed granite or the site may be occupying a patch of alluvium which could hold all manner of impurities overlying the granite. There is undoubtedly a strong presence of iron, as quite reasonable pieces of brown-red botryoidal haematite may be collected around the site. It could be argued that this would have been good ore, whereas the soft, weathered material still to be found at Shaugh Iron Mine would have been much more suitable for brickmaking.

Backing up the theory of material for brickmaking having come partially from Shaugh Iron Mine is an extract from the Transactions of the Devonshire Association 1935 : "At Shaugh, Mr Worth led us to the old workings of the iron mines. " (presumably Shaugh Iron Mine) " The ore was in scattered veins and of poor quality, yet good enough for it to be sent away, probably to South Wales. Those were the days of the South Devon Railway, which had at Shaugh Bridge a station for passengers and goods. Such ore which was of too poor a quality to make it worth smelting was used in the manufacture of bricks by the Ferro-Ceramic Pottery Company."
Furthermore, following his visit to Shaugh Iron Mine on 29.11.42, Peter Richardson, a well-known local mining historian, made an entry in his records " Quantity of yellow ochre lying about." In a recent letter he describes how he remembers a gutter near the mouth of the adit to the west of the workings, in which water ran over a thin deposit of very fine-grained yellow uncompacted clay, almost constituting a suspension. It is possible that the ore mined near the brickworks served only as a colouring agent.
Apart from the long, parallel walls of the brick kiln, there are still many traces of the workings. A water-wheel pit may be clearly seen, along with the course of its tailrace heading for the river. The purpose of the stone-lined depression at the western end of the kiln is uncertain, although its position might suggest storage of bricks. The ruinous foundations at the junction of the two rivers were probably offices, whilst the relatively intact stone building just upstream on the Plym side beside the Glenpath was a smithy. The adit opposite the smithy is blocked after a short distance, but its former course is plainly visible from the surface depression. A small tip exists beside the entrance. Just upstream of the brick kiln is another adit, the entrance of which is reinforced by the roots of a large tree. This connected with a shaft, the mouth of which was deliberately blocked some years ago after a bullock fell into it.

Kiln The two parallel walls of the kiln are still largely intact, the inside faces displaying a rebate of about four inches depth just over a foot up from ground level. Later kilms of this shape moved the bricks through on trolleys such that an almost continuous production could be maintained, but this one would have involved packing, firing and unpacking. This shape enabled a relatively consistent heat to be maintained throughout all the bricks being fired. David Muir has uncovered a patent application for such a kiln.

Water-Wheel Pit This is in a fairly good state of repair, all walls being largely intact. The approximate dimensions are : length - 20', width - 5' and depth - 7'max.. Presumably, the water supply was via a wooden launder from some way upstream. The course of the tailrace is still plainly discernible, leading to the Plym just before the confluence of the two rivers.

Remains of Small Building A postcard of 1910 shows the view looking eastwards along the path (described as "Glenpath") with this building to the right. In the foreground, a man wearing a bowler hat sits on one of the stones that has fallen from the structure. In a recent "Then and Now " exercise, with the " Man in Hat " role played by the Ed, one could not fail to notice that the scene was virtually unchanged after 77 years, the building having deteriorated only slightly. It has been suggested that this was the smithy.
Rubble is thought to be the remains of the site offices. Only the basic outline may be seen, along with a few red bricks protruding through a grassy covering.

Southern Adit - this is open and accessible, with a small tip at the entrance. A collapse after 15' is reflected in a depression at surface. The reason for the much larger depression on the same line is uncertain - perhaps it was just an open pit, or maybe it was once a shaft that connected with the edit. Fairly rich pieces of haematite are to be found in this area.

Northern Adit - this edit is also open, although after 20' it is flooded to a depth of about ~'. It seems highly probable that the edit once connected with the shaft 60' away. The shaft remained open for many yearei. until a farmer loq.t an ani~al in it ~ pushe~ the sides in to prevent a recurrence of the incident. Much iron staining is to be seen in the relatively fresh ground exposed.

Stone-Lined Depression - this is now often used for barbeques, but its original purpose is uncertain. The stonework is of a similar type to the other structures on the site. Its position at the end of the kiln suggests a related usage, such as storage of bricks either before or after firing. Perhaps the wells were once higher then today.

Dewerstone Granite Quarries
The assortment of quarries in the Dewerstone Woods area was active mainly in the mid-nineteenth century, all having closed by 1870. Stone was transported by a system of trackways, using standard gauge rails on granite sleepers. The original intention was to connect to the South Devon Railway, which had opened in 1859. The connection was almost completed, with a granite embankment constructed prior to the final bridge, which would span the Meavy at Goodameavy, but at this point the land owner refused permission to continue and the scheme was abandoned.
Granite was later removed from the embankment and used in the construction of the Lopwell Dam, although much remains.

The two horizontal trackways that skirted the Dewerstone were connected by an inclined tramway(photo) utilising two parallel sets of trucks. The added weight of the full trucks on the downward journey pulled the empty trucks to the top in readiness for the next load. To control the rate of descent, a brakehouse was installed at the top end. In a photograph of 1912 the brakedrum is shown to be still intact, but little remains of it today. The brakehouse itself still stands and the granite sleepers, complete with their bolt holes are very much in evidence.

The building now known as Dewerstone Cottage is said to have been the former quarry office and smithy. It is now used as a scout adventure centre.

Dewerstone Rocks are the precipitous outcrops on the eastern side of the hill, overlooking the Plym. Legend says that the Devil rides from the group of stunted, twisted oaks known as Wistman's Wood on certain nights, closely followed by his pack of hounds. Anyone seeing the spectacle feels a strange compulsion to follow to the journey's end at Dewerstone Rocks. Here the Devil pulls up, but the unfortunate follower runs on, to fall to his death!.
There are two possible origins of the word "Dewer". One is that it is a name for the Devil from the language of the Damoni, one of the ancient tribes of the area. The other is that it has evolved from the name of Tieu, the god after which Tuesday is also named. Supporting the latter theory are old references to Dewerstone Rock as the "Rock of Tieu".

The Dewerstone area was frequently visited by the poet N.T.Carrington. The name is engraved on one of the granite boulders at the summit. At one time it was proposed to build a monument to Carrington on the Dewerstone in the form of a small shrine, although this was never realised. His poem "Lines Written near Shaugh Bridge" begins :

"Rude mass, that frownest o'er the downward flood,
how many ages have suffic'd to shake
Thy hoar and fractured crest? "
- and so on

references
The Industrial Archaeology of Dartmoor - Harris
The Metalliferous Mining Region of S.W. England - Dines
Correspondence and observations of P.H.G. Richardson
Conversations with D. Muir
Transactions of the Devonshire Assoc. 1933 Vol. 7 p 227
via D.Muir.
Own observations and measurements.
O.S.Sheet CXVIII N.W. 1860 Rev.1904.

n.b. Much of the area is National Trust property and should be treated accordingly.

home