MMO2447 - Post-medieval quarry on Wellshead Allotment (Monument)

A quarry or gravel pit of probable post-medieval date is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs, on Wellshead Allotment at circa SS 8315 4194. The earthwork is roughly rectangular in shape, measuring approximately 40 metres long and 15 wide, orientated roughly northwest to southeast. The product of this quarry is unclear from the aerial photographs alone, but it is enclosed within an area of unimproved pasture abutting Wellshead Lane, which may support the interpretation that the quarry was used to provide road building material. In this instance, it must date to after the Knight's purchase of the Forest in 1818, when metalling of road surfaces in this area began. The earthwork is annotated Old Quarry on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1889, indicating that it had passed out of use by this time. [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]