Monument record MDO27464 - Middlebere Plateway, Arne

Dismantled Tramway (NAT) (1) The 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 abandoned in 1866. (2-3)

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

<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> Papworth, M, 1992, Middlebere, Corfe Castle Estate, Dorset. Wessex Region, 16 (Unpublished document). SWX1394.

The Middlebere Plateway, opened 1806-1807, ran from the clay pits on Norden Heath to Middlebere Quay. It was 3 miles (4km) long, 3ft. 9in (1.2m) guage and was closed in 1905. It was opened by Benjamin Fayle a London potter who had been working the clay pits at Norden since 1795. Fayle learned of the early railways from his customers in Staffordshire and considered that one might provide a workable alternative to sending poorly laden donkeys and horse and cart transport across rough heathland roads (Papworth 1982). The course of the tramway is clear on the ground and is used as a track for much of its length. It enters the Estate from the south at Hartlands and New Line Farms (New Lines Farm’s name refers to the tramway and dates the enclosure of the farmland here to the early nineteenth century). The tramway is an embankment in its central section and measures 4m wide at the top and 12m wide at its base and is up to 2m high (SY95558472). There are occasional limestone blocks surviving which carried the tramway sleepers. These are concentrated on the track length between Middlebere Farm (110145) and Middlebere Quay (112296). The blocks are 0.5m square with a central fixing socket 5cm dia. for fixing the sleepers. Visited 17/7/1992.

Record last edited

Jan 17 2019 12:28PM