Morwellham Quay - Archaeological Excavations

Limekiln Quay Plateways - 2005

Evaluation excavations on the Limekiln Quay showed that there were two phases of plateways and an intermediate edge railway phase on the quays: confirmed by surface stripping on the General Quay in 2008. The first phase seems to date from 1816-17 with trough section plate rails laid on granite sleeper blocks.

The second phase may date from the 1820s-30s and seems to have taken the form of a partial conversion to edge railway using T section cast iron rails on granite sleeper blocks, with the wheel flanges running in the grooves of the unusual trough rails, referred to by Von Oeynhausen and Von Dechen in 1826.

The third phase dates from after 1846 and possibly after 1867, with part of the quayside line abandoned and a new siding constructed across it at a higher level. This also used trough rail, this time laid on timber transverse sleepers. This line appears to have served the timber yard to the west and ran across the infilled dock of 1787-91 (see 'Lost' Dock). A similar extension siding was found in 2008 on the east side of the Manganese Dock.

The most impressive feature found in the 2005 excavations was at the eastern end of the quay, where a trench was dug to find the sites of two possible turntables marked on the 1867 Bedford Estate Map.

One complete and one partial turntable were found, the lower with its timber and iron deck and plate rails intact; the upper minus its deck but with its cast iron runner wheels and centre bearing largely intact. The tables were linked by a short inclined section of track (later removed) while a timber baulk survived from the inclined plane railway, north of the upper table, showing the incline to have been at an angle of 33 degrees from the horizontal (later confirmed by an architectural survey of the surviving part of the incline).

The stone incline ramp had been removed after 1869, but its footprint survived and is shown on this archaeological plan.

A rare feature was the juxtaposition of mixed trough plate and T section bar rail trackwork, confirming the composite nature of the railways on this quay.

This reconstruction section was produced from evidence provided by the 2004 and 2005 excavations.