MMO2185 - Post-medieval quarry on eastern edge of South Regis Common (Monument)

A post-medieval quarry or extractive pit with associated spoil heap is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. It may have provided building stone or limestone for the Knight family's improvements during the mid 19th Century.

An "Old Quarry" is shown on the 1st and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey maps. [1,2] A post-medieval quarry or extractive pit with associated spoil heap is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs on the eastern edge of South Regis Common, Challacombe. Located at approximately SS 7135 4051, the quarry itself measures 34 metres long, and varies in width between 5 and 20 metres. Two amorphous mounds on either side of the quarry would appear to be spoil heaps. The feature is annotated "Old Quarry" on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, suggesting it was abandoned some time prior to publication in 1889. It is not clear what was being quarried in this area, but it may well have been building stone or limestone for the Knight family's improvements at Pinkery and Driver Farms to the west during the mid 19th Century. [1,3,4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5] A large disused quarry lies on the east side of South Regis Common, close to the junction of two field boundaries. The quarry has overall measurements of 21m N/S, 19m E/W and is up to 3m deep, with spoil mounds flanking the entrance at the northern end (Fig 14). The quarry is shown on the 1st edition OS map (1888) as ‘Old Quarry.’ The quarry is most likely to be a stone quarry associated with the mid- 19th-century enclosure of the commons. [6]