DEVON, ENGLAND—According to a report in The Exeter Express and Echo, the Stover Canal, completed in 1794, was used to transport ball clay for making pottery from pits in the Bovey Basin to the port at Teignmouth for distribution. For the first time, a team of volunteers led by archaeologist Phil Newman of the Stover Canal Trust has excavated the remains of a 200-year-old canal barge at Ventiford Basin, in an upper section of the canal. By 1820, the canal was also used to transport granite from local quarries to the docks. Part of the journey was conducted on an unusual tramway made of granite blocks. Archaeologists have uncovered a section of the tramway, measuring more than 87 yards long, near the canal. “Although long and impressive sections of the tramroad survive in situ within Dartmoor National Park, until now it had been believed that the track was lost completely between Bovey Tracey and the head of the canal,” Newman said. “However, this amazing find, which represents three sidings off the main route, provides the only significant surviving section outside the national park.” To read about another find in the same area, go to “Seaton Down Hoard,” which was one of ARCHAEOLOGY’s Top 10 Discoveries of 2014.
