2021-5-25. The Hairy Hands, Higher Cherry Brook Bridge, the original Lich Way gate, Powdermills, re-routed Lich Way, plaque, Arch Tor, the gunpowder story, Incorporation Mill ("wheelhouse"), Longaford Tor, North Chimney, South Chimney, Cylinder House / Charcoal / Saltpetre Works with a covered flue, Cherry Brook, clapper bridge, Watch House / Cartridge Press House / Store, Checking House possible office or store, Watch House / Cartridge Press House, possible Mixing House, Incorporating / Composition Mill (south) and possible Cartridge Press House (south � of N building) and possible Corning / Dusting House / Glazing Mill (north �) with wheelpits, possible Press House, Breaking House, Glazing Mill, Final Preparation Rooms, North Chimney, Boiler / Drying House with a flue, three Incorporation Mills, Powder Magazine, Arch Tor logan stone / PC inscription and rock basins. Proving Mortar. D365-K11, L10, L11.
Walk details below - Information about the route etc.
Previous walks in this area: 13 Sept. 2012, 17 April 2013
Google Satellite map + GPS track of the 25 May 2021 walk
Old maps
Ordnance Survey 25-inch
Single Sheet
The revamped National Park Visitor Centtre in Postbridge car park, re-opened Weds 19th August 2020. Parking charge �1 for up to 3 hours, �2 for longer.
A section of the road in Bellever Forest.
Signpost nearly halfway to the Lich Way gate ..... 2.25 km (1.4 miles) from the car park to the entrance of the Powdermills site .....
Signpost at the turn down to the main road .....
As previous photograph .....
Another view.
Higher Cherry Brook Bridge from the car park, on the B3212 Yelverton to Moretonhampstead road, looking towards Two Bridges.
Lower Cherry Brook Bridge is downstream, to the left, where the brook passes under the B3357 Two Bridges to Ashburton road.
Starting with a bit of fantasy ..... You must watch this! The Hairy Hands of Postbridge (click "Watch for free" - a British Film Institute free film from Westward Television, 1965, by David Mudd, complete with his Peterson full bent pipe - life was different in those days! It is filmed looking towards Postbridge from near Higher Cherry Brook Bridge car park ......
Also - Legendary Dartmoor - Hairy Hands.
View from Higher Cherry Brook Bridge car park towards Powdermills (the settlement towards the left) with the Powdermills South Chimney visible, also the old gate on the Lich Way track, across the road. Longaford Tor is on the skyline .....
An aside .....
Lower Cherry Brook Bridge, at SX 63115 74825, photographed on 8th August 2020.
Notice on the original Lich Way gate ..... see Legendary Dartmoor: Lych Way - The Way of the Dead. This was re-routed 1999 because the old track had become very "mirey". This is just up the hill from Higher Cherry Brook Bridge. You can see the kink in the route away from Higher Cherry Brook Bridge in RouteYou - walking map, Wandermap.net.
The houses at Powdermills - the modern part - but the buildings are on the old 1887 Ordnance Survey 25-inch Single Sheet map.
Lich Way gate coming out of Bellever Forest at SX 63768 77648 .....
Across the road, the new path that was made in 1999. The old path was down the road to the left at Cherry Brook Bridge - a path that had become very boggy. In the distance is Longaford Tor (left), Higher White Tor (centre) and Arch Tor (right). The diversion of the path can be seen as a kink on modern walking route maps .....
The fingerboard sign beside the gate .....
The Lich Way Plaque on the gate .....
The original wooden sign on the gate .....
The Lich Way path ahead .....
Zoomed view to Arch Tor, SX 6336 7817, the top stone is a large logan stone, with rock basins and an inscription that reads "PC" that has been suggested to refer to Powdermills Cottages.
GUNPOWDER
In theory, gunpowder is a mixture of three components, in different proportions depending on intended use. That much is simple.
In practice, the production process is complicated, it is a dangerous activity. The Powdermills site is also complicated - everything (except for the water) entered the site at the south end. Various stages in production occurred going up through the site to the three incorporation mills at the north end and then coming back down through the site until final storage in a main magazine ready for shipment to buyers.
This DNPA Notice on the first Incorporation Mill explains the process quite simply ......
DNPA Notice on the first Incorporation Mill. Click the image to see a larger version.
George Frean, a Plymouth
Alderman, founded the Plymouth & Dartmoor Gunpowder Company and
opened Powdermills in 1844; it closed in 1897. It had employed about 100 men. George
Frean later teamed up with James Peek, one of three brothers importing
tea - wanted a biscuit business for "tea and biscuits" - wrote to George
Frean, "miller and ships biscuit maker", who had married a niece of
theirs, to
manage Peak
Freans.
Gunpowder, black powder or rock powder (local name) used for quarrying and mine blasting, is still used in fireworks.
The composition is 75% saltpetre, 15% charcoal and 10% sulphur (aka brimstone or burning stone).
Dynamite, more powerful, was patented in May 1867 by Alfred Nobel. It led to eventual closure of the mills in 1897.
Useful web links .....
Wikipedia
- Gunpowder
-
Manufacturing technology
-
Composition and charactersitics
The descriptions below are based on these references
Drew Campbell (2019), Powdermills - The Story of the Dartmoor Gunpowder Factory, Blackingstone Publishing, Moretonhampstead, Devon. 128 pages. References below are building numbers without brackets.
Andrew R Pye & R Robinson (1990), An archaeological survey of the gunpowder factory at Powdermills Farm, Postbridge, Devon (1990). This has not been obtained or examined but is referred to extensively in the Devon & Dartmoor HER - MDV5913 - Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory, Cherry Brook record that links to all the features described below. References below are numbers in (brackets).
Alan Brunton (1994), The Gunpowder Mills, Dartmoor, Orchard Publications, Newton Abbot, Devon. 17 pages.
Helen Wilson (1968), Industrial Archaeology of Dartmoor, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, pages 128-133.
There are many aspects to be found in these references and they cannot all be culled into this web page.
The whole complex was powered by water which was brought in by three leats. Initially, one leat came from the east bank of the Cherry Brook to a rectangular reservoir north of the three isolated incorporating mills. The water then returned to the Cherry Brook. The second leat came from the west side of the Cherry Brook to a circular reservoir behind the buildings. Water was taken for four years without Duchy permission. Permission was quickly granted because the Prince Consort, Prince Albert, had encouraged the venture. Later, water was also leated from the East Dart River to the north end reservoir. The water was then leated to water wheels used for grinding and powering other machinery.
The leat through the site is described in the book Industrial Archaeology of Dartmoor as now being dry and "two points at which it crosses the Cherry Brook, which flows between the buildings, can be seen. At one of these points, after feeding half the wheelhouses, the leat passes under the Cherry Brook through a wooden launder, which is still in place, in hard and excellent condition in spite of its years of saturation. Further downstream the leat's channel back under the brook is of stone, big enough for a man to enter. The water had to be conveyed some way before being allowed to discharge, in order to prevent pollution of the Cherry Brook".
Waterwheels were used in the three massively-built incorporating mills (1,2,3), glazing mill (4), pressing house (5) and two in the incorporating/composition mill and cartridge pressing house/corning/dusting house and glazing mill complex (6,7), and the final preparation rooms (8), making eight altogether. There is also a ninth, disused wheelpit at the final preparation rooms with later lean-tos in it.
Separate from the powder works to the south, along the road in, is the row of 19th century buildings that included cottages, a manager's house, school, cooperage and a small Methodist chapel. Today, there is a pottery, offices and farm buildings. South of the cottages beside the road is the proving mortar and nearby is a wheel-binding stone, used for fixing hot iron rims to cart and wagon wheels.
Devon & Dartmoor HER - MDV5913 -
Powdermills Gunpowder Factory, Cherry Brook
- good general descriptions, with further links to .....
| MDV43175 | Building 1: Incorporating Mill at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43176 | Building 2: Incorporating Mill at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43177 | Building 3: Incorporating Mill at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43178 | Building 4: Charge Magazine at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43179 | Building 5: Charge Magazine at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43180 | Building 6: Charge Magazine at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43181 | Building 7: Gunpowder Drying House at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43182 | Building 8: Charge Magazine at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43183 | Building 9: Building with Several Elements at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43184 | Building 10: Store Building at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43185 | Building 11: Glazing Mill at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43186 | Building 12: Breaking House at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43187 | Building 13: Press House at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43188 | Building 14: Incorporating Mills at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43189 | Building 15: Mixing House at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43190 | Building 16: Office or Store at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43191 | Building 17: Saltpetre Crystallising House at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43192 | Building 18: Group of Buildings Including a Cylinder House and Chimney at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV38603 | Powder Magazine of Powdermills Gunpowder Factory to the east of Taviton (error?) |
| MDV38604 | Powder Magazine of Powdermills Gunpowder Factory to the west of Summerhill Farm (error?) |
| MDV52819 | Powder Magazine to the south-west of Powdermill Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV18303 | Proving Mortar at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43196 | Leat from Cherry Brook to the Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV20480 | Leat supplying Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV27261 | Leat supplying the western side of Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43197 | Leat supplying Western Buildings at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43193 | Reservoir at the north end of Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43194 | Reservoir to the north-east of Building 2 at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43195 | Reservoir to the west of Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV5845 | Clapper Bridge on the Cherry Brook at Powder Mills |
| MDV52773 | Clapper Bridge over a Tributary of the Cherry Brook at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV52772 | Clapper Bridge over the Cherry Brook at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43201 | Quarry at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV43203 | Quarry at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV60260 | Quarry at Powder Mills Gunpowder Factory |
| MDV93493 | Powdermills Farmhouse and attached former Cooperage and rear Farm Building |
| MDV103782 | Building adjoining the west end of Powder Mill Cottages |
| MDV103781 | Building to west of Powder Mills Cottages |
| MDV103780 | Building west of Powder Mills Cottages |
| MDV103784 | Buildings at the eastern end of Powder Mills Cottages |
| MDV103783 | Western two Cottages at Powder Mills Cottages |
| MDV20718 | Powdermill Cottages 500 metres to the south-west of Powder Mills Farm |
| MDV43198 | Tin Streaming on the Cherry Brook at Powder Mills |
| MDV43200 | Tin Streaming on the Cherry Brook at Powder Mills |
The process, based on Alan Brunton's book, The Gunpowder Mills and Wikipedia- Gunpowder - Manufacturing technology .....
The ingredients, saltpetre (mostly from India), sulphur (mostly from the Vesuvius and Stromboli regions of Italy) and the charcoal (made from local wood, especially alder or alder buckthorn), were ground separately in a grinding mill house. These were then blended in the required proportions in large barrels tumbled by waterwheels. This incorporated them into a single compound using a combination of mixing, crushing and churning. This was a hazardous process that was governed by strict regulations and regular inspections. Only wooden and copper tools were allowed , so as to prevent sparks causing explosions. The men had to wear leather aprons and sof-soled shoes, no hobnail boots. There is a story that one man, Silas Sleep, who took his breakfast and dinner to eat at work, always ate them both together, in case he was 'blowed up' and sent to meet his maker before lunch time.
"Incorporation" was the first stage of production, in one of the three incorporation mills ("wheelhouses") at the top of the site, it resulted in a form of "cake". It was probably at this stage that the powders were dampened with water to reduce "dust" and prevent accidental explosions. This also helped the very soluble salpetre to mix into the porous charcoal. The resulting damp paste or "mill cake" was shaped into "corns".
This was "ripe charge" that could be stored for a short period. It was then pressed down in e.g. a 2-ft square box to "press cake" about an inch thick. Originally this was a hand-powered process, like a cider press, but later a water wheel was used to drive the presses.
The next stage was "corning" when slabs of cake were broken up with wooden mallets into a granular form. Later, water-powered machines were used. This involved rollers and then sieving through different sized meshes. The powder was then tumbled in rotating barrels or cylinders. These were covered with gauze to collect any small dust-sized particles. This was another water-wheel powered process.
The next stage was "glazing", where the grains were tumbled again, with graphite or black lead to give each grain of powder a waterproof coating. This made the powder suitabe for use in damp mines and quarrying.
The last stage was "drying", sometimes in the open air (a good trick on Dartmoor!). Usually, this was done in heated "Gloom stoves". These were heated by an iron furnace with the powder laid on trays stacked around it. Later, steam stoves were used to heat pipes near the trays. The process used a flue to take away any sparks and fumes to a chimney - and this is seen at the south, bottom end of the site.
The final product was packed in large oak barrels that were covered with leather to prevent spillage. The gunpowder was tested periodically using the proving mortar that lies beside the road going into the Powdermills site. The strength was determined by firing a 68 lb iron ball over a distance that was then measured. The principles are presented in A Memoir on Gunpowder, by John Braddock (1832), London.
Besides the actual gunpowder makers or millers, the enterprise employed coopers, blacksmiths, carpenters, wagoneers, carters, wheelwrights, stable staff and labourers.
The site - starting below at SOUTH CHIMNEY after entering at the top of the site .....
There can be confusion identifying buildings when referring to the 2019 book and the 1990 survey listed above. The book starts at the south end of the site (page 98) with "Building 1" and the archaeogical survey starts from the north. The survey numbers are in (brackets).
N.B. - There is no known map saying what each building was used for, so there is conjecture based on the gunpowder-making processes and the requirements for them to be carried out.
Scene approaching the top (north end) of the Powdermills site, with the first Incorporation Mill ("wheelhouse") and Longaford Tor ..... photo taken by the entry gate ......
The gate toenter the site at the north end of the Powdermills site, with the North Chimney in view ..... the buildings run left, under the trees .....
The notice on the gate .....
Zoomed view, from the gate, to Longaford Tor, SX 615 779, elevation 507 metres (1663 feet).
Panoramic view of the site, the South Chimney is discernable (left end), the track into the site can be seen at the right of the photograph. Click the image to see a larger view.
The North Chimney.
A passing view of the north end Incorporation Mill. The white rectangle is the DNPA overview notice of the gunpowder-making process shown near the top of this web page.
The following photographs are all taken around the South Chimney .....
17 (18) South chimney / Cylinder House / Charcoal / Saltpetre Works: group of buildings including a possible cylinder house, for charcoal manufacture. If ready-made charcoal was brought in, then this could have been for processing saltpetre, dissolving it and recrystallising it to make it more pure. Three phases of development and extension have been identified and it is likely that the function of the buildings changed over time. A flue and chimney indicate heat was involved. The flue to the chimney is about 1 metre deep and � metre wide. Its eastern portion is now open and rubble-filled, but the western portion is still capped. It enters the base of the chimney which is set on a plinth. The chimney is about 10.5 metres high.
South Chimney with the 17 (18) Saltpetre / Charcoal Works behind. Across the track is the 2 (17) Cartridge Press House / Watch House / Store and up the slope behind that is the 1 (16) Watch House / Checking House. At the left edge are the roofs of the Powdermills Cottages, Pottery / Cafe, and offices .....
Chimney top with a decorative, binding course of blocks (string course?) to hold it together .....
Looking straight through the chimney base; presumably the openings might have been to do with managing draft and pulling smoke or fumes from a fire?
There is a (now-partially) covered flue from the buildings to the chimney .....
Another view of the flue .....
Somewhere in this building there was a furnace / boiler, possibly for making charcoal from local wood (alder or alder buckthorn were favoured) .....
A different view of the flue and chimney .....
A final view.
Leaving the chimney .....
Ahead is the Cherry Brook which is crossed by a clapper bridge; immediately ahead is 3 (15) a Mixing House / Store behind the gate and tree, and to the right is 4 (14), a double structure that had two water wheels. The left section is believed to be a Cartridge Press House / Preparation Room and the right section is believed to be the Corning / Dusting House and Glazing Mill.
A view of the Cherry Brook and clapper bridge.
2 (17) Watch House / Cartridge Press House / Store - possible saltpetre crystallising house. Long rectangular single-storey building located at the southern end of the site and aligned north to south.. Two, possibly three, phases have been identified. Water was culverted through the building under the floor. Its north wall was probably the dwarf wall which now subdivides it from the extension to the north. Dwarf walls in one interior consist of one long spine wall and two side walls. Another dwarf wall runs east to west across the structure from the northernmost door to the east wall. These appear to form a raised floor with water, air or heat circulating beneath. A small, square, stone-lined feature to the west of the south-west corner may be a well, or possibly a pit in which staves were soaked. The building is described in the book as the Watch House, where materials in and out of the site were monitored. It might also have been used as a store.
View after passing further south towards the other site entrance gate (not for general public use). Hidden behind is 3 (15) Mixing House / Store and to the right is 4 (14), a double structure that had two water wheels. The left section is believed to be a Cartridge Press House / Preparation Room and the right section is believed to be the Corning / Dusting House and Glazing Mill.
1 (16) Checking House possible office or store. This is a small, rectangular, ruin off the track, to the left of the site entrance gateway. It could have been used for checking workers into the works to ensure they had nothing about them that might cause sparks.
A last view of 2 (17) Watch House / Cartridge Press House / Store, with the South Chimney and its associated buildings across the Cherry Brook. The South Chimney and the track coming across the Cherry Brook with its clapper bridge are visible in the background.
3 (15) Possible Mixing House: Small, rectangular, single-storey shed, in line with the track over the brook to the South Chimney. Aligned north to south. South gable end mostly survives. The west wall stands to full height; the east wall survives only as footings. No doors or windows are present in the three standing walls. There is plaster rendering on the interior. Small stone-lined channel runs east to west down the outside of, and parallel to, the south wall.
4 (14) x 2 - a double building with two waterwheels. Incorporating/composition mill (south), possible cartridge press house (south � of N building) and possible corning/dusting house/glazing mill (north �). Consists of two pairs of structures on either side of two wheelpits. The tailrace of the southern wheepit discharges back to the Cherrybrook. The wheel between thesouthern mill was powered by a continuation of the leat powering buildings to the north. The wheelpit tailrace discharged via a channel into Cherry Brook. The culvert has an arched roof of granite blocks overlain by slabs .....
Presumed waterwheel pit (southern) .....
The presumed water wheel pit .....
Presumed northern water wheel pit .....
Down inside the waterwheel pit.
11 (13) Possible Press House: Long, rectangular gable-ended(?) building aligned north-south with an east-west wheelpit to the south. The wall of the wheelpit is visible only in the west. The position of the sluice is identifiable. The tailrace is not visible. This where a waterwheel powered a press to squeeze moisture out of the gunpwder.
12 (12) Breaking House: Small building, aligned north to south just south of the glazing mill (below). There is a large rectangular stone table, 20-25 centimetres thick, on a masonry base.The table top is smooth. On this, the slabs of pressed gunpowder were broken down.
A closer view, showing plaster rendering on the rear wall to the left?
13 (11) Glazing Mill: Long rectangular building, aligned north / south. The structure contains supports for a raised floor, or to support machinery such as glazing barrels. The internal supports may alternatively have been to provide under-floor ventilation. There is a wheelpit at the south end of the building. This where "broken" pieces of gunpowder from the Breaking House were sieved and large pieces were returned to the Breaking House and fine powder was returned to the Press House.
There is a Circular Reservoir on the hill above between this building and the preceding building.
There is a view up on the hill from this point of the first Incorporation Mill .....
Zoomed view of the "wheelhouse" where the gunpowder was mixed and finely ground.
14 (10) Store possibly where "corns" i.e. sieved gunpowder was stored. This facing the track coming down the hill from the three incorporation mills - note the fingerboard signpost.
16 (9) Final Preparation Rooms: It is probable that
these buildings were used for dusting, glazing, sieving and packing the
gunpowder prior to carting it it off-site. Horses may have been stabled here as
well as barrels and other materials being stored here. There are two mills
powered by a waterwheel.
Scene from behind, with the North Chimney in the view .....
The walkers, caught after the coffee break among the Final Preparation Rooms, near the North Chimney with Longaford Tor behind.
Sneaking away during the coffee break, I found the remains of the large circular reservoir up the hill behind the main buildings.
Was this a waterwheel pit area?
A view of the three Incorporation Mills ..... two are gable-ended and one is square-ended .....
The North Chimney .....
15 (7) Gunpowder Drying House: 'gloom' or steam stone used for drying gunpowder. A portion of the west wall of "Unit D" (in the survey) remains, in the centre of which is a flue leading to the chimney 5-6 metres to the south-west. Two wheel cogs lie at the east end of the building, but may not be in situ .....
Part of the Boiler House / Drying House complex .....
North Chimney.
7 (3) Incorporating Mill: Similar in plan to 'Buildings 1 and 2', consisting of two units flanking a central wheelpit. The wheelpit is largely filled with rubble. The wheel was powered by water from the tailrace of the wheelpit of 'Building 2'. The three incorporating mill houses ("wheelhouses") were of massive construction with many granite blocks being 6-feet long and the was about 6-feet thick, to withstand inadvertent explosions. The roofs were very flimsy, of wood and tar, to blow off without damaging the main structure. They could be replaced easily.
From the "rear" - this is the third incorporating mill in the system in that the water comes from the mills above here on the hill. The raised bank bringing the water to a launder to reach the water wheel is seen at the right .....
Looking into the central wheelpit .....
Looking through the mill from outside one end .....
Down in the wheelpit - best not to go there!
6 (2) Incorporating Mill: Tar drips indicate that either it was not gable ended, or the gable ends were constructed of timber of lesser width than the walls below. Water outflow continues west in the form of a leat, towards 'Building 3'.
6 (2) Incorporating Mill showing the outflow leat ......
6 (2) Incorporation Mill outflow leat running towards the previous building, 7(3) .....
Depression in a granite block to house the axle of the waterwheel - there is a mirror-image stone in the other half of the "wheelhouse" .....
The raised bank on the right brought the leat to a launder that fed the waterwheel in the pit on the left.
Foreground: 8 (4) Powder Magazine: A small rectangular stone structure, approximately 4 metres by 2.5 metres, completely ruined.
Background: 5 (1) Incorporating Mill: Consists of a pair of gable-ended structures flanking a large central wheelpit. Both of massive granite blocks with walls about 2 metres thick at their bases. Tar dribbles indicate original roofing was of tarred tarpaulin or wood. The wheelpit is aligned north-east to south-west and runs the whole width of the units. Wheel axle appears to have projected into their ground floors. Powered by a launder to the north-east which flowed out through a culvert to the south-west. This is roofed for 3.5 - 4 metres, then becomes an open channel which runs downhill to feed the reservoir belonging to 'Building 2'. The raised bank at the left brought the leat that fed a launder to the waterwheel.
General view of the North Chimney and 16 (9) Final Preparation Rooms.
Wheelpit, seen from the downhill side .....
Looking through from end of the building .....
The raised bank at the right brought the leat .....
Wheelpit, seen from the uphill side .....
Last view before leaving the site. The white sign is the DNPA summary of the gunpowder manufacturing process, shown near the top of this web page.
An "extra" to the walk: exit the site via the gate at the top right corner, past the Incorporation Mills, and walk out straight to Arch Tor. The whole top stone "logs" i.e. rocks, i.e. as a logan stone. Returning to the Lich Way, aim about 100 yards to the right of Higher Cherry Brook Bridge. If this cannot be seen (and I haven't checked this since 2012), aim a little to the right of the Bellever Forest trees in that area by the car park and bridge.
Arch Tor: the "PC"inscription has been suggested to signify Powdermills Cottages (photo from 13 Sept. 2012) .....
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Dartmoor CAM movie. A movie of the logan stone rocking, or "logging" on Arch Tor, filmed 13 Sept. 2012. |
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Click the photo to download |
Ponies on the track back to the car.
This photograph is from Google Street View .....
Copyright: Google 2020
Proving mortar, or �prouvette, at SX 62790 76810, south of the cottages. This is just off the road, on the left, on the last bend when driving in approaching the Pottery, caf� and mill cottages. It fired a (probably) 68 lb ball to test the powder - the distance travelled by the ball was a measure of the strength of the powder. This was not seen on the reconnaissance walk and the image is taken from Google Street View.
Milestone, Higher Cherrybrook Bridge, SX 63170 76828, 200m SW of bridge, 300m from turn to Pottery, B3212, N side, on grass verge, opposite field gate. Carved stone post, Dartmoor granite tombstone design, erected by Tavistock turnpike trust, 19th century. Inscription reads: // TAVISTOCK / 10 MILES / MORETON / HAMPSTEAD / 10 //. Milestone Society National ID: DV_MNPR10. Last record: 2012. (See The Milestone Society : Excel spreadsheet of SW England - Outer milestones (Line 1050) : Photo of the stone on Flickr
MAP: Red = GPS satellite track of the walk.
� Crown copyright 2016 Ordnance
Survey
Licence number 100047373
Also, Copyright � 2005, Memory-Map Europe, with permission.
� Crown copyright 2016 Ordnance
Survey
Licence number 100047373
Also, Copyright � 2005, Memory-Map Europe, with permission.
This walk was reached from Postbridge Visitor Centre car park.
Statistics
Distance of the route planned on Memory Map - 6.11 km / 3.8 miles: distance
walked as recorded by leader's GPS - 8.14 km / 5.06 miles.
All photographs on this web site are copyright
© Keith Ryan.
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