Morwellham Quay - Archaeological Excavations

Old Dock, 2003, 2004 & 2008

Old Dock 1 - 2003

A shallow trench was excavated about half-way along the eastern quay to locate the 1855 railway sleeper blocks, known to be present, and the wing wall between two of the bunkers on this side. The latter had been entirely removed at a later date, but the slate sleeper blocks, one with a cast iron chair in-situ were there. Some of the cobbles in the southern bunker and a slate kerb on their west side were located; the eastern enclosure wall of 1855 could be seen to be built directly onto these cobbles.

Old Dock 2 - 2004

A second trench was excavated into the east side of the eastern quay, this time going deeper, in order to test the theory that this dock was of medieval date.

It showed that the dock may have been created in the early 18th century, mudflats being found at the bottom of the 5ft deep trench with early 18th century pottery lying in the mud among pieces of low-grade coal or culm and timber offcuts, possibly from boat building nearby. This photograph of the section shows the great complexity of sequenced layers of coal and limestone chippings encountered here.

Old Dock 3 - 2008

As part of the stripping exercise carried out on the quay edges in early 2008, both quays alongside the Old Dock were relieved of their overburden and raised bunds of soft clay and turf along the dock edges.

This revealed that lines of slate sleeper blocks of 1855 down both sides had been laid in linear trenches cut into a yellow clay and killas base.

An L section plate rail fragment was found to be packing one of the sleeper blocks; a method seen elsewhere. On the western quay, a pair of points at the south end used pine baulks to avoid a complicated layout of sleeper blocks; a most unusual method. Single rails survived in-situ at the south ends of both quays. Footings for all of the other bunker wing walls were located on the eastern quay.