Knowle Quarry
History
Exeter Volcanic stone has been widely used in houses, churches, and other historic buildings in a large area of the southwest, east of Dartmoor, including Crediton, through to Cullompton and up to Wellington. This includes, Exeter’s Roman wall, parts of Exeter Cathedral, and the walls of Crediton Church. Any wall containing this stone should be mended using the same type of stone, not just for appearance and authenticity, but because inappropriate materials can react badly with the remaining stone and harm these structures.
Historic and Geologically Significant Quarry
Devon has many historically important listed buildings, generally built using the most appropriate local stone, as transport was always costly. Over the centuries builders sought the best local stone and quarried it. In our part of Devon, we had a few volcanoes (around 284 million years ago) and they left small intrusions of slow cooled lava, colloquially known as Exeter Volcanic Trap. Wherever this volcanic material comes to the surface it has been valued and quarried. All those historic quarries closed in the 1900s as bricks were brought by rail, this material hasn’t been available since, until now.
Open for the first time since 1904.
The Volcanic Stone has been extracted from the Elston Farm site for over 800 years. The stone can be found in many local structures including Holly Cross Church in Crediton, Copplestone Church and the Coleford houses rebuilt after the 1841 flood.
In 2018 Andy Gray donated the stone used to create a new war memorial situated in Copplestone, find out more.
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