MMO2318 - Post-medieval quarries southeast of Limecombe Cottage (Monument)

A pair of post-medieval quarries are visible on aerial photographs as earthworks to the southeast of Limecombe Cottage, Exmoor. Centred at approximately SS 7651 4032, the quarries are cut into a steep west facing slope above Lime Combe. The larger of the two, measuring approximately 16 metres across, is depicted on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1889, and annotated "old quarry" suggesting it had recently been abandoned. The smaller quarry, some 20 metres downslope to the west, measures 8 metres across. The name "Limecombe" suggests that these were limestone quarries, possibly supplying lime for the Knight family's agricultural improvements in the mid 19th Century. Four cottages were built at Limecombe by the Knight family, who also intended to construct a station nearby for their proposed Simonsbath-Porlock mineral railway. It is possible that the quarries were part of this proposal. [1-4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5]