Haytor Granite Tramway - Construction

Construction

The tramway was built in 1820 without an Act of Parliament and opened on 16 September 1820, but the consulting engineer is unknown, although George Templer of Stover House managed the quarries and was no doubt responsible. The description of the official opening shows the extent of the achievement:

On Saturday Mr. Templer, of Stover House, gave a grand fete champetre on Haytor Down, on the completion of the granite rail road. The company assembled at its foot on Bovey Heathfield, and in procession passed over it to the rock. A long string of carriages, filled with elegant and beautiful females, multitudes of horsemen, the workmen on foot, the waggons covered with laurels and waving streamers, formed in their windings through the valley, an attractive scene to spectators on the adjacent hill. Old Haytor seemed alive: its sides were lined with groups of persons, and on its top a proud flag fluttered in the wind.

Among the company were Lord & Lady Clifford of Ugbrooke; Mr. Bastard from Buckland; Sir Thomas Dyke Acland; Sir Henry Carew from Haccombe; Sir Lawrence Palk from Haldon, beside many other county magnates from other parts. After a speech by Mr. Templer there were high jinks and dances on the turf. "Never", writes the ecstatic reporter of an Exeter paper, "was the Haytor's sod graced with such blooming fair ones, nor did it ever before display so festive a scene."

The construction is exceedingly unusual, the closest possibly being the Weedon Stoneway in Northamptonshire of 1837 which was built at great expense as a mail coach route by the Turnpike Commissioners who were in competition with the newly constructed London & Birmingham Railway. The only other comparable tramway known to exist was a very short 3 ft gauge limestone line at Conisbrough, near Doncaster.

The tramway itself was built out of the granite it would carry and ran from the Haytor quarries to Ventiford Quay on the Stover Canal. At first, it was about 7 miles (11 km) long, but it was later extended to about 9 miles (14 km) or 10 miles (16 km) including the various sidings. The hard granite stone was well-suited to the purpose as it can withstand high pressures and was laid in lieu of iron rails. The tramway had a mainline running down to the Stover canal and six branches or sidings running from the separate quarries. The sidings were altered several times during the existence of the line and track was often lifted and used elsewhere as circumstances demanded. Various minor and one substantial cutting, small embankments and a few short bridges exist along the length of the line.

Owing to the nature of the 'rails' large parts of the old tramway still exist, especially in the area near Haytor itself.