Dartmoor CAM Walks

Previous walks Weather Links

This walk: 2013-9-11. West Down, Grenofen Manor, River Walkham, disused quarry, sett makers' bankers, fungi, West Down Mine chimney, kiln.

Walk details below - Information about the route etc.

Link to Google Satellite view of the area - including the GPS track of the walk (compare with the Ordnance Survey map plus track below)

Bing and Google maps side by side - but no GPS track.

Grenofen Manor, with recent property developments. Click the image to see a larger version.

View of trees on entering Bymore Wood .....

Another view .....

Detail of a multi-stemmed birch tree .....

Silhouettes of the tree's leaves.

Beech tree with four trunks (stems).

Looking back ..... I think we had this one a long time ago!

Looking north at the acute corner of the walk close to Highertown.

Just a view.

The River Walkham .....

Shallows.

In the disuseed quarry area at SX 4875 7078 .....

Looking directly into the main faces of the quarry ..... Click the image to see a larger version of the left quarry face - stained with iron?

A sett maker's banker (see the walk on 29 February 2012 for details about where men made setts to surface the streets) .....

A second banker, overlooking the River Walkham .....

A third banker. nearby, but facing away from the river and on the way out of the quarry .....

Below the quarry, a disused leat between the track (at left) and the river .....

A stone revetment, or retaining wall, supporting the track into the old quarry.

Along the river bank.

A building passed along the way, at SX 4876 7070 on the map.

Possibility - Sulphur tufts - Hypholoma fasciculare (gallery of images) ..... I might come back and check this out another day .....

View from below.

Down by the riverside .....

Good place for a swim, anyone?!

Here, there is an old leat above the track, away from the river: is it the same leat seen below the track earlier, if so, where did it cross the track?.....

Looking the other way.

West Down Mine chimney .....

Ruins of old buildings ......

Another ruined building .....

Looking through the base of the chimney .....

Squeezing inside the larger aperture .....

Looking up the chimney - see the trees above?

Unidentified tree with ivy ..... Click the image to see a larger version, done for fun!

Last time I was here, I saw one this big ..... it made my hands blurry .....

Kiln used for smelting arsenic, this was a byproduct of tin or copper smelting although around 1900, it became an important activity. This was important in West Cornwall and the Botallack arsenic reclamation system (see numbered photos 62-66) is very impressive .....

The flue from the kiln went up the hill behind .....

Somewhere up this hill is the outlet chimney from the kiln, scraping the arsenic off the lining of the flue was a very unhealthy job.

Looking back, again.

A large country rock beside the track .....

Closer view, slate?

Walk details

MAP: Red = GPS satellite track of the walk.

This walk was reached by parking at SX 47980 70879 (at the yellow cross)- From Plymouth, cross over the Morrisons roundabout to the next mini-roundabout by the cemetery, take 1st exit (cutting back on yourself), signed "Superstore deliveries" and "Walreddon" - we go through Higher Walreddon and park at the end of the road.

Statistics
Distance - 5.15km / 3.20 miles.