Details

The monument, which falls into two areas, includes a granite quarry on the
cliffs called the East Sidelands on Lundy. The quarry was initiated by the
Lundy Granite Company in 1863 and ceased trading in 1868. The quarry consists
of five cliffside workings with their spoilheaps, a terrace revetted by
massive stone walls serving as access to the workings, a floor for a light
railway to each of the workings, a dressing floor, two inclines to carry the
machinery to lift and lower the stone from the workings to a landing beach,
two buildings for stabling and storage, and a time hut for the staff to
supervise the operation.
The terrace, which forms the greater part of the quarry, runs for 800m from a
small gully in the side of the cliffs, 200m south of the Halfway Wall, to the
north side of the valley below the Quarterwall. At the north end there are two
workings cut into the cliff. The northern working runs back for 30m and is 15m
wide; the southern is 60m deep and 30m wide. Both were served by a narrow-
guage horse-drawn railway; the second had two rail branches from the main
line. Spoil heaps spill over the edge of the terrace and run as far as 80m
down the cliff towards the sea.
The V C Quarry, so called because a plaque has been erected in the quarry to
commemorate John Pennington Harman V C, is 200m south of these workings. This
quarry runs 60m into the cliff and is 40m wide. This was served by a single
rail branch. Immediately to the south is another opening in the cliff which
was cut back only 20m but is 60m wide. This also had a small rail branch.
Spoilheaps run out over the edge of the terrace from both of these workings.
There is a small ruined building tucked under the cliff on the terrace between
these two quarries.
Beyond these quarries, the railway runs for a further 180m along the terrace
to the south, past another ruined building, and meets the two inclines with
the loading platform and the machinery for driving the bucket trains. The main
incline runs from the beach to the top of the cliff and is 200m long. A second
incline comes down from the dressing floor and meets it at the loading
platforms where it was linked to the main driving machinery. At the head of
the second incline is the time hut and a dressing floor on a revetted platform
40m long and 10m wide. At the southern end of this platform are the remains of
a building which is associated with a second rail line linking an older
quarry, now the Quarry Pond, with the second incline, the dressing floor and
the spoil dump immediately below the Quarterwall cottages.
At the junction of the track which runs down to the main terrace from the time
hut, a point 135m north of the main incline, another path runs down below the
spoil tips to the Quarry Beach where there was once a crane at the foot of
the incline and a landing stage built of timber to take the stone away on
boats. The base for the crane survives but the landing stage is no longer
present.
At the southern end of the complex, 90m to the west of the southernmost spoil
dump, are the three cottages in a terrace on the top of the cliff, known as
Quarterwall Cottages. These are ruinous but walls survive up to gable height.
A well 30m to the west of these cottages and associated with them is in a
separate area of protection.
Associated with the quarry workings is the infirmary building, 200m to the
west of the loading platforms and on the top of the cliff. This is the subject
of a separate scheduling. Also associated are the foundations of a row of
cottages for the workers 100m west of Quarry Pond and the foundations of
another row of worker's cottages which were never completed. Both these rows
of foundations are the subject of separate scheduling. The Heligoland trap
which has been erected on the terrace 30m to the north of the winding machine
platform is not included in the scheduling but the ground beneath it is
included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Lundy is a small, steep sided island in the Bristol Channel, 16m north of
Hartland Point, north Devon. Aligned north-south, it is 6km long by 1km wide
and supports a predominately moorland vegetation. The 100m high cliffs and
tabular form give it a striking appearance, visible in clear weather from
parts of south west England and south Wales.
Lundy's remoteness and (until the 19th century construction of the Beach Road)
its inaccessibility, combined with a lack of shelter and cultivable soils, has
meant that it has escaped more recent occupation or development. It therefore
preserves a remarkable variety of archaeological sites from early prehistory
(c.8000 BC) onwards, representing evidence for habitation, fortification,
farming and industry. There are also archaeological remains in the waters
surrounding the island - over 150 shipwrecks are already recorded. Most of the
island's archaeology is well documented from detailed survey in the 1980s and
1990s.

The extraction of stone for various purposes has been practised in England
during most periods from the Neolithic onwards. The exploitation of granite
is comparatively recent, with its resistence to impact and weathering being
its main virtue. Used for building and, in the 20th century, roads, the
granite quarries of the south west are of particular note.
The quarry on the East Sidelands survives well as an outstanding example of
its class. With the exception of the machinery and stone robbed from buildings
for other constructions on the island, little has changed since abandonment in
1868. The quarries are much visited and provide sufficient visible detail to
reconstruct precisely the workings of a stone quarrying operation during the
late 19th century.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Lamplugh, L, Lundy Island Without Equal, (1993)
Langham, A, Langham, M, Lundy, (1970), 98
Langham, A, 'The Lundy Island Chronical' in The Lundy Island Chronical, (1986), 8

Source: Historic England