Limited granite quarrying gives new purpose to moor
The last thing a living landscape like Dartmoor needs is to be set in aspic, never to be altered. That would lead to its slow but certain decline with jobs, its sense of community and any real sense of purpose, beyond serving ice-creams to tourists, gone.
That is one reason Dartmoor Society founder and chairman Tom Greeves deserves a fair hearing for his suggestion, in today’s
that quarrying granite inside the national park might be more environmentally-friendly than digging it out of the ground in China and shipping it halfway round the world to be used in construction projects in the UK.
He has certainly got a point so far as the overall environmental impact is concerned. But it is also possible to see a beneficial rather than a negative impact on Dartmoor itself. There would, of course, need to be careful consideration taken of the impact of reopening Dartmoor’s last granite quarry at Merrivale, on local people. And care would also have to be taken that the quarrying and transportation of the stone caused as little damage as possible to this protected environment. But Dartmoor is made up of rock and quarry still takes place elsewhere.
Until 1997, when Merrivale closed, granite had been taken off the moor, or 1651: Charles II, defeated by Cromwell at Worcester, fled to France, after famously escaping from Cromwell’s forces by hiding in an oak tree. 1777: British commander General Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga in the American War of Independence.
1899: British troops defeated the Boers at Glencoe.
1931: Mobster Al Capone was jailed for 11 years for tax evasion.
1956: Calder Hall in Cumbria, Britain’s first large-scale atomic energy station, was opened by The Queen.
1960: The newspaper ceased publication. used in construction projects on it, for millennia. No one is suggesting a massive expansive of the quarry that still exists. If it employed more than a dozen people, as it did when it was last fully operational, that would be a surprise. The overall impact, in a national park as big as Dartmoor, would surely be negligible. Yet just as Dartmoor lamb and beef, beer brewed at Princetown and other products made from raw materials or skills honed on the moor have a special value, so Dartmoor granite could again become a significant part of the moorland output.
Better still it would help to remind people that Dartmoor is not just a playground but a working, breathing part of the South West, made up of communities which have a purpose to fulfil. That sense of purpose in the uplands of the UK is already under threat from those alleged conservationists who think farming and other activities should be kicked off the moor to allow the bracken and brambles to completely take over. To most moorland dwellers, such so-called “re-wilding” proposals are an outrage. Developing appropriate moorland businesses, including well-managed granite quarrying helps push back against such daft ideas and cements the view that Dartmoor can – and must – combine work and play. 1989: San Francisco was hit by an earthquake which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale.
1991: Four ITV companies, TV-am, Thames, TVS and TSW, lost their licences. Rob Marshall, director, 58 Ziggy Marley, reggae singer, 50 Wyclef Jean, singer/ songwriter, 49 Eminem, rapper/ actor, 46
Matthew Macfadyen, actor, 44 Psalm 62:8 – Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
On this day
Thought for the day
Birthdays