Monument record MWX3877 - Bowers Quarries, Portland

Quarries much enlarged in last half of C20 and part still active in 2007 where underground working has taken place. Older quarries and waste tips survive along West Cliff. The earliest quarries appeared along the cliff, working back inland from 1745 onwards. The quarries are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of the 1940s.

Much enlarged in last half of C20 and part still active in 2007 where underground working has taken place. Older quarries and waste tips survive along West Cliff. The earliest quarries appeared along the cliff, working back inland from 1745 onwards. (1-5) After a pause some work took place in the north east part between 1900 and 1927 (6-7). There is a published aerial photograph looking NE over Bowers, Trade, Tout, Inmosthay and beyond, December 1965. (8) Finally, the quarrying of the later C20 destroyed all previous evidence except along the coast. The remains here are therefore of historical significance. A small quarry is shown near the West Cliff in the Bowers quarry working area on a map of 1832 (9).

Quarries marked on the first edition of the OS map, also marked on the second edition as Bower's Quarries. (10-11)

Bowers Quarries were digitally plotted as part of a larger quarrying area, with Trade Quarries and Tout Quarries to the north, during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset). The quarries were plotted to their extent in the 1940s. See MDO19496 for more details and sources.

<1> 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.

<2> F Webb and Co Salisbury, 1800, A Map of the Isle of Portland (Map). SDO10235.

<3> Wyld, J, 1828, Plan of the Island of Portland in the County of Dorset (Map). SDO10236.

<4> 1841, Portland Tithe Map (Map). SDO10253.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1901, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, sheet LVIII.15 (Map). SDO10268.

<7> Ordnance Survey, 1929, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, sheet LVIII.15 (Map). SDO10269.

<8> Hudson, K, 1984, Industrial History from the Air, plate 9 Cambridge University CUC, AMN 74 (Monograph). SWX2152.

<9> Roger Hopkins and Sons, 1832, Plan of Grove and Easton area of Portland, showing proprietors of quarry lands (Map). SDO10237.

Record last edited

Sep 6 2024 4:38PM