MSO9229 - West Somerset Mineral Railway (Monument)

The West Somerset Mineral Railway was designed primarily to carry iron ore from the Brendon Hill mines to an outlet port at Watchet, but also carried passengers. It received Royal assent in 1855, and work started on it in 1856 and was completed in 1861. It ran successfully until 1898, when failure of the mines caused its closure. It was briefly reopened in 1907, and was finally closed in 1916; its rails being commandeered by the Ministry of Munitions in 1917. Stations on the line were Watchet, Washford, Roadwater, Comberow, Raleigh's Cross, Luxborough and Gupworthy, with many of the mines having their own sidings. [1] This feature was recorded as part of the Brendon Hills Mapping Project, carried out by the Aerial Survey section of RCHME. [2-4] Much of the railway and its buildings are shown on the Ordnance Survey 25 inch maps. [5,6] Several ideas and projects were mooted before the actual line was sanctioned. [7] It was also planned to extend the line to Eisen Hill in 1864, but this was never built. [8] Parts of the trackbed to the north of Burrow Farm mine and the incline were scheduled on 3 September 2004. [10] Part of the line to the south of Carnarvon New Pit was scheduled on 14 January 2005. [11] The whole of the course of the incline and the winding house have been recently purchased by ENPA, who hold copies of the detailed surveys mentioned above. [12] The WSMR ran from Watchet on the West Somerset coast to Gupworthy high on the Brendon Hills. Construction started in 1856 and the line was opened as far as Brendon Hill, at the head of an impressive incline, in 1861. The line was completed as far as Gupworthy in 1864. The WSMR was closed in 1898, then re-opened as far as Brendon Hill by the Somerset Mineral Syndicate in 1907. Rails were comandeered in WWI, and the company was wound up in 1925. The history of the railway has been described at great length [1], and the remains of the incline have been recorded in considerable detail, by Mike Jones, for the Exmoor National Park Authority. The incline runs for over 1 kilometre from ST0292 3528 to ST02333 3446, with a gradient of 1 in 4. The principal building was the winding house (ST0233 3446), which had a cottage - Drum Cottage - inserted into one side. [13] The railway is referenced on the National Transport Trust's website (see External Links). [15] Recorded by National Record of Industrial Monuments in 1964. [16] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [17] Mapped extent of railway ends at National Park boundary. Feature continues into area maintained by Somerset HER and is recorded as PRN 28620 (see External Links). [18]