With the bike away i took to the hills on foot, walked beyond the night fall and was up before the sun for some more.

My walk in pictures is here.

plenty of worts still here, and tasty sweet too.

Cool!
What were the industrial relics from?

Very nice too. Loving the wheels buried by moss.

Oh my I do like the Q's

up tonight with the wife deer spotting

is that what they call it now?

were married now so deer spotting it is 🙄

Nice pics!

Are the industrial remains those of the West Somerset Mineral Railway and its incline near Raleigh's Cross?

JulianA

i doubt it as that isnt on the quantocks….

looks like somewhere down in holford or maybe quantock combe.

Great shots chap – are the industrial bits at the bottom of Halsway or Short combes by the old quarry?

Snaps has it, the old quarry building in Halsway it is, ropey as **** and a danger really to anyone who wanders in there so wouldn't advice going in there….But that's me There's a Tawny owl resident too as on both evenings i disturbed it Thursday there was two, or is that two wit two woo….Strange thing is i can't find any pics or history of the working quarry despite it having many piles of graded material there.

The two iron wheels seen in two of the last three pics is in one of the main combes….can't find out anything about them, but hoping to link them to the US army tanks that apparently roamed up there during WW2..

looks lurvely.

'deer spotting' isn't that the posh rural version of 'dogging'? 😉

Looks like the wheels may well of belong to one of these old fellas..

A Fordson standard

fantastic photos.some of those pics look like they could've been on lord of the rings. 🙂

Yeah it was all bull about filming it in NZ, they found out most the people in Bridgwater look like goblins and Orcs..as the Tox was so close they filmed it there…

Yeah it was all bull about filming it in NZ, they found out most the people in Bridgwater look like goblins and Orcs..as the Tox was so close they filmed it there…

And local legend has it that you played the part of Golem 😉

yeah but i kept getting bollocked off by Peter Jackson for saying, " ger orf my precious"

i like this thread a lot…especially reading ifrom a Fjord far far away.

re. quarry working: there are some good refs to ?this Quarry extracting 'roadstone' in the early 20th C. in the relevent R.D.C minute books held in the Somerset Records Office.

looks like a fine exploration.

lol @ the LoR jokes too

I know they quarried the area for road stone, the hangmans grit but the net is seriously lacking in pics and information of the Industrial side of the hills…

And i have this urge to learn more……..

i'd be suprised is u found any pics from that early era…i recall reading in the S.R.O archives: accounts of steam rollers mending lolcal roads , and debates about whose responsibility it was to provide good fencing around the perimter of quearry n'ting…my best suggestion (offthe top of muy head) for infomation would be go study the relevent docs yoursself and fit it to the ground , or else contact the good folk at the nearby W.S.R as i can enviage someone there knowing a lot. Goodluck!

I've found records from 1965 over claims of common land ownership….

Major Trollope Bellew owns/owned the quarry and the surrounding fence was erected before and during the letting of the quarry to Anglo American Asphalt, commoners complained over the lack of fence, which apparently was there.

soudns familiar: when reading the stuff remember that over time the quarry change shape /:perimiter / etc.. etc. it has becmome (maybe accidently a deep old rad place)

Changing tge subject slightly – did u i.d the wheels u found?
Also if ever in need of a chill a beer…check into the luxurioous place at the bottom of the coombe which is comeplete with a waterwheel

As per pic up there, the whels look vvery much like those from a fordson standard, the spadelugged rear wheel has the same design, amount of spokes and centre hole, the front again matches the front wheel from the above pic.

The Combe house hotel is frequented by us for creams teas and less beer tasting drinks mid ride.

I've discussed with the now new owners about turning the old wheel house into a refuge for Mountainbiker/walkers to stop for food and drinks, as the main part is 4star and mainly used for weddings and posh dos…as much as they welcome and serve us for the winter months at least i feel we'll be less welcome….

Also, the owners have inquired about restoring the wheel itself, the main gearing, etc is all freed up, teeth replaced and looking smart..

mate, get the water wheels rolling if u can!

i really like that place, it would be amazing to get it turning agian…originally, apparently, the wheel used to provide powere H.E.P fpr the eastablishemnt etc. not too mention shoe polihisng servises as power dwindled (info all avaiulible o read on a nice sign by the wheel). T
Lovely location, much respect for the possible rennovations, & hospitality when I've been lucky ewnought ot ride thru,

Great pics.

(and hello Tangent! 😀 )

yo!(no)teeth…great pics indeed…kinda kilve-esque

The 26ft water wheel was used to grind oak bark for the tannery(of which you can still see the open bond brickwork of the drying house) established here in the 1840s. When the tannery closed in 1900 the waterwheel was adapted to other uses such as grinding grain for grist, cutting chaff, chopping apples for the cider press and generating electricity. It also cracked stones in a nearby quarry.

ah-ha…i know that structure!
its brilliant to learn more details about the past at work
nice1 thanks 4the info

So you know about the silk weaving industry i holford too then…

And why the dog pound was rumored to been built…

indeed i do, the diaspora of tyhe Hugenots (sp?) is intruiging as any silk like singletrack! Am actually bit scared of dogs (hounds of the basket meals excluded) so tend not to dwell to much on the dog pound story if true that savage! 😕

great pics indeed…kinda kilve-esque

Except that these are properly developed… (grand total at Kilve was two out of twenty four, iirc!) 8)

The dog pound – I remember being told that story as a kid. Grim.

Grim?

I just though warra plonker…fancy turning up at work in the wrong clothes and getting killed for it…now that's a strict dress code!

now that's a strict dress code!

Indeed. They didn't do casual, obviously. 😯