MMO2030 - Post-medieval extractive pits on Rowley Down (Monument)

"Old quarries" are shown on the 6 inch 1905 and 1963 Ordnance Survey maps. [1,2] Part of a group of six small quarries depressions marked by the Ordnance Survey as "Old Quarries" etc and noted on aerial photographs. [3-5] A series of small post-medieval extractive pits or quarries and associated spoil heaps, arranged in a linear pattern are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of Rowley Down, Parracombe. Centred at approximately SS 6654 4331, six irregularly shaped pits are visible, all of which are apparently flanked by low mounds, presumably spoil heaps from the extraction. The irregular shape of the pits most likely results from individual prospection pits gradually becoming conjoined as they were expanded over time. The linear form of the pits suggests that a mineral seam was being prospected or followed, but the precise nature of the extraction cannot be established from aerial photographs alone. The pits are depicted and annotated as "old quarries" on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, which suggests they had been abandoned some time prior to publication in 1889. They are similar in size and form to quarries 550 metres to the west, recorded under MMO2029. [6-8] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [9]