Report - Weybread Gravel Pits.. Suffolk, November 2021

[Mikeymutt]

Liked the Ruston. Looks like it is all there. Lick of paint bit of wd40. Could it work again. Be nice to see it preserved. They used them in the iron stone mines also. Well done.

Its in pretty good nick considering how it has sat there for years. I would love to see one of them going in a stone mine.

 

[Mikeymutt]

We are trying to find out more information reference your pictures 6.7.8 and the rail tracks - could take some time

Well hopefully you can find some info.

 

[dansgas1000]

Very well captured Mikey, you seem to make it look more picturesque than what it looks in real life!

This is the closest do-able pin to my house, so I have been a large handful of times between 2017 and now, and it does seem to get more and more beaten up each visit, which is a shame.

 

[westernsultan]

Very well captured Mikey, you seem to make it look more picturesque than what it looks in real life!

This is the closest do-able pin to my house, so I have been a large handful of times between 2017 and now, and it does seem to get more and more beaten up each visit, which is a shame.

So if you live near please measure the gauge of the rail tracks going into those concrete bunkers, we now have generated a lot of interest and am currently collating the results

 

[Mikeymutt]

Very well captured Mikey, you seem to make it look more picturesque than what it looks in real life!

This is the closest do-able pin to my house, so I have been a large handful of times between 2017 and now, and it does seem to get more and more beaten up each visit, which is a shame.

Cheers mate. Could not believe how much worse it is. Hope in your visits you got a selfie in that dragline.

 

[westernsultan]

The set of pictures showing those railway tracks going into what looks like concrete bunkers generated sufficient interest for a friend and I to see if we could find out more information. We’ve been in touch with local museums, archivists, authors and societies. There is no record of any railway or part thereof in Weybread. One author told me “There were early plans of the Diss to Harleston railway coming our side of the Waveney but it never materialised”. The track looks to be narrow gauge, cannot tell exact gauge from the pictures, but the pictures suggest a flat wagon being manually pushed in and out of the bunkers. Then they end at what appears to be a traverser, and in picture 8 the remains of the tracks of the traverser appear to be still in situ. This wagon being pushed along the traverser to access the various concrete bunkers and at the end probably being loaded onto a road vehicle. In fact, the vehicle fitted with that clamp could have been used to offload the wagon in later life.

With all information gained the general consensus is these concrete bunkers are part of the production of bricks or clay products – possibly Suffolk whites or Suffolk reds. Interesting no-one knew about this small rail system so it’s a guess as to their actual use from what we have learnt.

There appears to have been some sort of brick production in the area, the best clue to this being the Brick Kiln Cottage murders of 2016 - https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/weybread-murder-latest-man-arrested-in-connection-with-murder-of-877938

Various sources indicate a brick & tile works at least from 1846 until 1904 at a site on the north side of Mill Lane, east of the village. Names associated with the works include: Henry Drane, George Chase, Samuel Youngs Brock, Joseph Brock and Hugh Tyrwhitt-Drake.

Production of bricks could have been the Stock Brick process or simply a series of shelves to dry the bricks before they were moved to a kiln. An alternative suggestion is that the pictures may show drying chambers used to dry freshly formed clay-ware products (e.g., bricks, tiles, plant pots). The building could be a form of “hack” – pallet railed in and raised to sit on the ledges

The aerial view shows no signs of any remains / track bed of a railway system. So, we can rightly assume that the rails going into theses bunkers were all that ever existed. Some people have yet to respond to our requests for information.

 

[dansgas1000]

Cheers mate. Could not believe how much worse it is. Hope in your visits you got a selfie in that dragline.

It hasn't actually crossed my mind! Will need to get one next time lol

 

[Mikeymutt]

The set of pictures showing those railway tracks going into what looks like concrete bunkers generated sufficient interest for a friend and I to see if we could find out more information. We’ve been in touch with local museums, archivists, authors and societies. There is no record of any railway or part thereof in Weybread. One author told me “There were early plans of the Diss to Harleston railway coming our side of the Waveney but it never materialised”. The track looks to be narrow gauge, cannot tell exact gauge from the pictures, but the pictures suggest a flat wagon being manually pushed in and out of the bunkers. Then they end at what appears to be a traverser, and in picture 8 the remains of the tracks of the traverser appear to be still in situ. This wagon being pushed along the traverser to access the various concrete bunkers and at the end probably being loaded onto a road vehicle. In fact, the vehicle fitted with that clamp could have been used to offload the wagon in later life.

With all information gained the general consensus is these concrete bunkers are part of the production of bricks or clay products – possibly Suffolk whites or Suffolk reds. Interesting no-one knew about this small rail system so it’s a guess as to their actual use from what we have learnt.

There appears to have been some sort of brick production in the area, the best clue to this being the Brick Kiln Cottage murders of 2016 - https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/weybread-murder-latest-man-arrested-in-connection-with-murder-of-877938

Various sources indicate a brick & tile works at least from 1846 until 1904 at a site on the north side of Mill Lane, east of the village. Names associated with the works include: Henry Drane, George Chase, Samuel Youngs Brock, Joseph Brock and Hugh Tyrwhitt-Drake.

Production of bricks could have been the Stock Brick process or simply a series of shelves to dry the bricks before they were moved to a kiln. An alternative suggestion is that the pictures may show drying chambers used to dry freshly formed clay-ware products (e.g., bricks, tiles, plant pots). The building could be a form of “hack” – pallet railed in and raised to sit on the ledges

The aerial view shows no signs of any remains / track bed of a railway system. So, we can rightly assume that the rails going into theses bunkers were all that ever existed. Some people have yet to respond to our requests for information.

You have obviously been doing a lot of looking into this one. I would never have thought it would be anything to do with a railway system myself. I just think they were storage areas for gravel. Maybe even for washing the gravel and put in something and wheeled in on the tracks. And taken out. Maybe like you say for bricks even.

 

[westernsultan]

You have obviously been doing a lot of looking into this one. I would never have thought it would be anything to do with a railway system myself. I just think they were storage areas for gravel. Maybe even for washing the gravel and put in something and wheeled in on the tracks. And taken out. Maybe like you say for bricks even.

None of the people we contacted think they are to do with gravel. Thanks for generating the interest