MMO2032 - Post-medieval extractive pit northwest of Challacombe Common (Monument)

A post-medieval linear extractive pit or quarry is visible on aerial photographs. The linear form of the quarry suggests that a mineral seam was being followed, but it is not clear what was being extracted at this site.

Old quarries are marked on the 6 inch Ordnance Survey maps dating from 1905 and 1963. [1,2] One of three groups of irregular quarried depressions, marked by the Ordnance Survey as "Old Quarries", visible on aerial photographs. [3-5] A post-medieval linear extractive pit or quarry is visible on aerial photographs on Moorland to the northwest of Challacombe Common. Centred at approximately SS 6741 4283, the quarry appears as three separate pits measuring in total approximately 135 metres long and up to 15 metres wide, running northeast to northwest. It does not appear particularly deep and may have been partially backfilled. The quarry is depicted but not annotated on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, suggesting that it was abandoned prior to publication in 1889. The linear form of the quarry suggests that a mineral seam was being followed, but it is not clear what was being extracted at this site. [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]