Musbury Castle Hill Fort, Musbury, Devon

Taken from the Old English translation, the name Musbury loosely, amusingly - and most delightfully - means 'ancient place overrun by mice'. In other words, abandoned and left to the wild. One of a string of Iron Age hill forts running along the east side of the Axe Valley, it is the second from the coast, the first being Hawkesdown at Axmouth whose original ancient name was Hocksdon. 

This part of East Devon was heavily defended during prehistoric times. The hill forts created a buffer zone between the Durotriges to the east in what is now Dorset, the Dumnonii to the west and the Dubonni to the north, jealously guarding a trade route through the Axe and Yarty Valleys, and culminating in what has been described as a Neolithic Clapham Junction at Hembury.
 

The first photo above was taken by the farm situated above St Michael's church. The next photo was just above the farm and looking down the track towards it.

Further up the track it was possible to see Hembury with its hill fort to the north.

The photo below shows the view to the south. The central gap is the coastal town of Seaton and the faint glints below that are the lakes at Lower Bruckland Nature Reserve some two to three miles inland. The prominent hill to the left is Hawkesdown, topped by its hill fort.

These next two photos were taken from as far as I could get to that day. Unfortunately, after visiting several places, I didn't manage to make it to the top before my next bus home - and I also had a really bad feeling about the path through a field crossing quite near to a large steep dip filled with trees, which put me off - although whilst chatting to someone at the bus stop I was told that I wasn't all that far from the top.
 

A large prehistoric univallate hill fort, it occupies a site at the end of a Greensand spur with naturally steep slopes, having a long, narrow enclosure aligned with the spur on which it sits. The photo below shows the highest viewpoint on the far right.

Visited in March 2010, I always meant to go back to finish my climb to the top and take more photos. Unfortunately, a worsening disability put paid to that. Maybe one day! ;)

Evangelical Chapel, Musbury, Devon

 

"There is a dissenting place of worship in the village, erected in 1859, but not, I believe, in connection with any special denomination." The Book of the Axe by George P R Pulman.

Having seen this tiny chapel whilst on bus journeys over many years, I'd often wondered whether it was still in use or not. It started to look a little forlorn, as if abandoned, so after taking photos of pillboxes in the nearby village of Whitford in February 2010 I decided to take the extra walk up the lane to investigate. However, it isn't derelict but still very much in use. Whilst taking exterior photos I noticed vans parked behind the building and shortly afterwards some people came out of the chapel. After a chat about the place I was kindly invited to take photos of the inside.
 

 Outside, a small path leads up to the front entrance. 
 

The man who founded the chapel was a local boy, called Walter Wills. A visitor to my website kindly sent me two long and very detailed articles of Walter's life and how the chapel came to be built - which, although very interesting, are too long for inclusion here. To summarise very briefly, it took many years of preaching before his parents were also converted, upon when his father decided to help Walter build the chapel.

There are a few gravestones in the small courtyard. The one in the photo below belongs to a Richard Wills.

An interesting bit of information that I found out about Richard Wills was in this extract taken from White's Devonshire Directory (1850).

"John Gregson, John Woolcot, and Samuel Parr, Esqrs., Mr. Richd. Wills, Mr. F. Gillett, and several other freeholders, have estates in the parish."

From the date, Richard may have been Walter's father.

As would be expected, the interior is beautifully simple, decorated in peaceful hues of pale blue and green.

The picture of Walter Wills as a man and preacher is situated behind the altar, which I was shown. I thought I'd taken a photo of it but I don't seem to have it, so perhaps not.

 

And finally, looking back along the short path towards the gate situated between two tall yew trees. A lovely little chapel on the side of the lane, which I was really pleased to get to see and take photos of at last. :)

Limestone Quarry, Beer, Devon

This abandoned quarry was originally called the New Quarry and began its life sometime before 1883, when work in the Old Quarry - now a tourist attraction called the Beer Quarry Caves* - gradually began to be phased out. The Old Quarry dates back to the Romans, sometime after AD 47 when the end of the Fosse Way was completed at Axmouth, and was exclusively underground. The new one, however, not only shows evidence of underground workings, but also later outside excavations together with the relatively more recent buildings such as workshops, stores, site office and loading sheds.

*Information about the Beer Quarry Caves can be found here.

Now known simply as Beer Quarry, these workings are on the north side of the road and separate from the original Old Quarry, in its later years worked by Hanson Aggregates until being completely abandoned. I explored it at the end of a lovely sunny day in late September 2008, along with a friend who was visiting on holiday.
 

Above is the rock face, at first glance looking like a fort. The entrance, below, followed by interior photos.  

We weren't able to get very far in. My friend ventured over a pile of debris to see how much of the caves there were but he had to give up too, as it was pretty much blocked.

 Next up were two large loading sheds.

Just behind those was an amazing workshop, complete with several pieces of machinery, lifting gear and various tools inside.
 

This cute little metal barrow was just outside.

  Interior photos below.

This was such fascinating place with the gantry lifts, workbenches and various tools. I loved the wrench and steel rule hanging on nails roughly hammered into a wall batten, plus what looks like a grinder, below.

Fab window covered with ivy.

As befits coastal Devon, I've often found a boat on explores in the most incongruous of places, including here in the workshop. I even found one on a WW2 airfield just over the border into Somerset...coming up in a future post.

And, inside an extremely dark storeroom leading off from the workshop, this funky little grinder machine....

 ...and a fabulous stack of old toolbox drawers.
 

  Outside again, to the mobile Site Office and weighbridge.

Welcome to Beer Quarry! We appreciated the greeting on the board inside the office, lol. What's often amazed me is the amount of paperwork and other things that are sometimes left when places are abandoned. It looks as if they just went out for a lunch break and are about to return back to work again. 

We had a walk further onto the site to find the outside excavations, seen below.

Ending up on top of the underground excavations, the final photo is the view looking down above the workshop and loading sheds.