Monument record MWX757 - Middlebere Plateway, post medieval tramway from Middlebere Quay to Norden Heath, Arne

The remains of a post medieval tramway which ran from Middlebere Quay to Norden Heath are visible as fragmentary linear earthworks on aerial photographs taken in 1947. The tramway opened in 1806-7 to serve as a transport route between Middlebere Quay and Norden Heath clay pits. It was abandoned in 1866 and is now partially in use as a trackway. The remainder appears to have been incorporated into modern hedges or plough-levelled.

TThe Middlebere Plateway, opened 1806-7, ran from Middlebere Quay to clay pits on Norden Heath. It was three miles long, 3 ft. 9 in. gauge, and was used by animal traction. <2-3>

The plateway is thought to have been abandoned in 1905 and an extension of the steam railway was opened from Norden to Newton to link up with an existing line to Goathorn. <4>

Clarification to source <5>: traction on the main plateway was from animal power for the whole of its 100 year life. The line from Norden to Newton was a separate later addition, and operated using steam power from 1907 to 1939.

The remains of a tramway which ran from Middlebere Quay to Norden Heath are visible as fragmentary linear earthworks on aerial photographs taken in 1947 <6>. These features were digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset). The most recent comprehensive imagery available to the project <7> shows that the former tramway route is now partially in use as a trackway. The remainder appears to have been incorporated into modern hedges or plough-levelled.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

Dismantled Tramway (NAT)

<2> Baxter, Bertram, 1966, Stone Blocks and Iron Rails, p206 (Monograph). SWX3179.

<3> Regional History of Railways of Great Britain: Vol 1 (West Country) 1973 194 (D. St J. Thomas), p194 (Monograph). SWX3177.

<4> Email: Ben Buxton, local historian, 15-SEP-2005 (Verbal communication). SDO20139.

<5> PastScape website feedback (Verbal communication). SDO19831.

<6> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 F36 1019-20 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12755.

<7> Google Earth, 2013, Google Earth 2013 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12686.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456845 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jun 6 2024 5:03PM