MDE21127 - South Down Quarry and Beacon Down Quarry (Monument)

A beacon is shown on the 25 inch 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map at SS 6656 4591, with no quarrying activity indicated in this area. South Down Quarry is a small feature shown at SS 6673 4579. [1] 'Beacon Quarry' and 'South Down Quarry (Disused)' shown on the six inch 2nd Edition map. [2] 'Beacon Down Quarry (Disused)' shown on the six inch 1963 Ordnance Survey map. This quarry covers a much wider area than the two quarries mentioned above on the 2nd Edition map, although the new name indicates a merging of the two quarries into one at some time. [3,4] Beacon Down Quarry. Gritstone. Operated by Devon County Council in 1937, employing 17. Quarry was worked for road stone but also produced a good stenning stone. In order to get stone down drifts were driven and then blown to produce stone. The question of the presence of the narrow gauge locomotive is often questioned. There was no rail network in the quarry and the locomotives were stored there and used on road schemes when required running on temporary track laid along the route of the road. Tom Barrow was Quarry Foreman in the 1950s. [5,6] Beacon Down Quarry is depicted on the 2020 MasterMap data but is shown as disused. The site does not extend as far to the southeast as the originial location of South Down Quarry, suggesting the two did not merge. The latter is now shown on the MasterMap data. [7,8]