Holwel-Torr Granite Quarry, High Torr (1829)

Thomas Hewitt Williams
  • image IMAGEFORDA3947
RepositoryLibraryShelf
Devon West Country Studies M SC1352
Illustration Reference
SC1352
Location
CD22 DVD 4
Publication Details
Date
1829
Scope and Content
Crossing, William. Present day life on Dartmoor and early historic and mediaeval remains on Dartmoor. "The Western Morning News" Co., Ltd.: Plymouth, 1903.IX THE QUARRYMANAt the second tor reached by Mr. Bray [This was almost certainly not Hollwel-Torr Granite Quarry, High Torr] a number of men were at work, so many that he says it might almost be compared to an ant-hill. One of them, who was standing on a very large stone, picking it into shape with "a pickaxe as ponderous as a sledge-hammer," he likens to a statue put in action. The drapery may not have been so well disposed as in some scenic groups, he says, but the muscular development was far better. Near this tor were some huts and a blacksmith's shop, and on the tramway a rude carriage with an awning. […] Mr. Bray was quite wrong in thinking that there was any discomfort attached to riding on the tram-wagons. I have ridden on them frequently, both when laden with granite, or when returning to the quarries empty, and, cumbrous though they were, they ran smoothly enough. Mr. Bray here ascended an inclined plane of great breadth, on which were chains running upon rollers, and this brought him to a quarry where men were engaged in loading the wagons, two immense cranes being employed for the purpose. The centre of the tor had been laid open, and its summit towered perhaps sixty or seventy feet above them. "Every recourse had been had to artificial as well as natural powers in this work of destruction." […].[Text may be taken from a different source or edition than that listed as the source by Somers Cocks.]
Format
Etching
Dimensions
100x152mm
Counties
Subjects
Dates
1829