Haytor Granite Tramway

The Haytor Granite Tramway was built in 1820 by George Templer to move granite from his quarries at Haytor and Holwell down to the Stover Canal at Ventiford, a drop of around 1,300 feet over roughly ten miles. Rather than iron rails, the tramway used grooved granite setts, quarried locally and laid end to end, with horse-drawn wagons running in the grooves. Long sections of this stone trackbed survive intact across the open moor today, one of the more unusual pieces of industrial archaeology on Dartmoor.

Stone carried on the tramway supplied the new London Bridge, completed in 1831, travelling on by canal and ship from Teignmouth. Traffic continued until the Haytor quarries closed in 1858. Much of the route can still be walked today, and forms part of the wider Templer Way.