Wheel Pit, Rumple Quarry, Plym Bridge Woods

Summary

First shown on the 2nd Edition 25" OS revised 1904 map, the structure housed a large overshot waterwheel of about 15.8m diameter and was probably used to lower slate dressing machinery at Rumple Quarry.

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Description

First shown on the 2nd Edition 25" OS revised 1904 map, the structure housed a large overshot waterwheel of about 15.8m diameter and was probably used to lower slate dressing machinery at Rumple Quarry. It is 17.91m in length, 5.01m wide at its eastern end. The wheelpit has a maximum inside height of 6.71m and a maximum outside height of 6.98m. There are post holes on the inside of the N and S walls and there is a entrance with an iron grill at floor level at the eastern end of the S wall. The inner faces on the N, S and W are all flat whereas the face of the E wall is curved outwards, presumably related to the wheel. The E end of the S wall is close to the river (1-2m) but does not show signs of being undercut. The W wall is raised on its top (0.30m) as is the extended section of the N wall (0.07m). The site is roughly rectangular with a space in the centre to contain the waterwheel. The N and S walls extend in their thickness in the centre. This is possibly to accommodate workings related to the wheel. At the western end of the S extension is a small socket (0.51m x 0.43m) which presumably held machinery related to the workings. A system of flat-rods may have been employed to lower from the wheel to the buildings.
The building of the embankment for the present viaduct in 1905-07 appears to have buried most of the associated structures. In September 1865, a water wheel was inaugurated at the Cann and Rumple quarries. An article is headed, The Starting Of A Waterwheel At Cann Slate Quarry= but a reading of the article suggests that the waterwheel is on the Rumple side. The water appears to come over the river Plym to feed the waterwheel. This would explain a second leat from Horrabrook stream which appears only on subsequent maps. It is most likely the explanation for the launder pillars on the Cann side, and a second reservoir at the end of the leat, above the weir. The article states that 2 hydraulic engineers were employed to take levels and that they came to thew conclusion that the wheel was five feet above the highest point to which the water could be brought. This suggests that the wheel would have to be a breastshot wheel rather than an overshot one. The wheel was said to have been the brainchild of John Bennett, the mining engineer and company director mentioned in the lease. The company assets auctioned in 1868 included a 50 feet diameter 6 feet breast waterwheel, assumed to be the same wheel.

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