On Doetor Common, beside the track that runs north from Doe Tor Farm towards the Doetor Brook, the Ordnance Survey map of the early 1900s marks a small quarry. It is one of the less obvious things on this part of the moor: nothing we have read mentions it, and the map is the only evidence we have.
Where: about SX 5372 8509, on Doetor Common, on the east side of the farm track, about 200 m north-north-east of the farm buildings shown on the same map. The position is read from the map and is approximate
Evidence: the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map of Devon, second edition (1902 to 1905), which marks it “Quarry”, with a short spur joining the farm track
On the ground: a pile of loose granite in the rough ground nearby, photographed on 16 October 2026; it does not line up with the position on the map
Written records: none found
What the map shows
The map shows the quarry with the usual quarry symbol, a small irregular pit with a short spur running west to the farm track. The earlier 25-inch survey of the 1880s does not show it. That is as far as the evidence goes: the map does not say what was quarried or when, who worked it, or for what.
What we have not found
A search of Dartmoor books and reports, including William Crossing's guides and the 2006 survey of Doe Tor Farm, found no written mention of a quarry here though there is one that appears on an old map.
The granite on the ground
A visit on 16 October 2026 found a pile of loose granite in the rough ground nearby, but it lies away from the quarry's position on the map. It might be a spoil heap from a quarry, but nothing that resembles a quarry or its tip has been seen nearer the farm, so we cannot say the two are connected. We have left it there: this page records what the map shows and what has been seen, and no more than that. If you know of a record, a photograph or a story about it, we would like to hear.
Nearby
The quarry lies between the farm and the Doetor Brook, a short walk from the Doetor Brook Footbridge and Doe Tor Falls. Doe Tor Farm itself is described on its own page, and the mine at Wheal Mary Emma lies about half a kilometre to the west, on the Lyd.
This area is outside the military firing ranges, but ranges lie nearby on the moor, so check the firing times before you go further.
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