MSO6937 - Post-medieval quarrying on Great Woolcombe (Monument)

An area of shallow surface quarrying or mineral extraction is visible as a series of earthworks on the northwestern corner of Great Woolcombe, Exmoor. Centred at approximately SS 7708 3720 and measuring some 70 metres by 14 metres, the earthworks comprise amorphous scoops 0.6 metres deep. A U-shaped mound (which was previously thought to be circular) is presumably a spoil mound from these quarries. The stone was most likely used to build the field walls. Burton refers to "ancient" miners working the surface for iron ore at this location; the term "ancients" was very often used to refer to medieval and early post-medieval iron mining (as at Roman Lode, Burcombe). In the mid 19th Century, two trenches were cut nearby to establish the limit of the lodes of Blue Gate Iron Mine, and the east-west alignment of workings suggest that iron ore may well have been extracted here. [1-6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7]