Monument record MDO19479 - Admiralty Quarries ('Nicodemus Quarries'), Portland

Site of earliest quarries, shown on 1710 map and expanded by 1745. In 1863 actively worked deeper into cherty series for government works, with tramway branches to top of Breakwater Incline. Mostly abandoned by 1889. The quarries are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of the 1940s.

Site of earliest quarries, shown on 1710 map (1) and expanded by 1745 (2). In 1863 actively worked deeper into cherty series for government works, with tramway branches to top of Breakwater Incline. (3) Mostly abandoned by 1889. (4)

The post medieval quarries described above in (1-4) are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of the 1940s. The site consists of a narrow area of quarrying, widening at its northern end, with finger dumps also located in this area. The quarry workings are visible over an area measuring approximately 490 m by 160 m. (5) The quarry appears to have been filled in by the date of the most recent comprehensive aerial photography available to the project. (6) This site was digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset).

<1> 1710, A Plan of the Isle of Portland and parts adjacent (Map). SDO10244.

<2> Roper, T, 1745, A Plan of the Island of Portland in the County of Dorsett, with a description of his Ma’ty’s Demesne Lands and Quarries there… (Map). SDO10234.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1889, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, sheet LVIII.11 (Map). SDO10240.

<5> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3229-30 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13055.

<6> XX-XXX-2009, Google Earth (Aerial Photograph). SDO12705.

Record last edited

Nov 8 2013 1:48PM