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2. Bigg. Bristol and William Robert
A curious correspondence, discovered in the Devon Record Office in Plymouth, relates to the
time of the second Henry Honeycombe's birth (at llsington in 1834) and to the Haytor quarries,
which were located on the eastern fringe of Dartmoor. The letters refer, in part, to a Mr
Honeycombe - who can only be William the stonemason, who was living in the area then.
It seems that his employers were not too happy with him for several reasons, concerning a loan,
his rent, and the cost of his sevices.
The letters are from John Bigg, the secretary of the Haytor Granite Company. He was writing
from the company's offices in London - they were on Bankside in the Borough of Southwark -
to George Tempter of Kingskersweii near Newton Abbot.
George Templer was an industrialist of great entreprise and wealth, who began quarrying granite
at Haytor about 1810, and was one of the first to exploit this natural resource in the region.
Dartmoor granite was coarse-grained, blue-grey and very hard. Nelson's column in Trafalgar
Square in London is made of it, as are many major structures and monuments, like the British
Museum. The granite from the Haytor quarries was used in the reconstruction of London Bridge
in 1825, and George Tempier transported the blocks to the coast on a railway he had built of
granite sets laid lengthways and carved with flanges to steady wagon wheels. The Haytor
Granite Railway, operated by horses, opened in 1820 and ran for eight and a half miles to the
Stover Canal, whence the wagon-loads of granite were taken on barges to Teignmouth and
shipped to various destinations. Teams of 18 horses are said to have been used to pull 12 fully
laden wagons. The Haytor quarries and the village of llsington were only a few miles apart.
It seems more than likely that William Honeycombe was employed by the Haytor Granite
Company in London as well as in Devon. The company's offices were in Southwark and two of
William's children were born in Southwark in the 1820s. He may well have laboured on the
rebuilding of London Bridge. His immediate employers may have been one or other of the
stonemasons named in a company certificate: William Bunting of Southwark Bridge Road and
James Martin of 4 Wellington Road, Newington. But in 1829 William was back in Devon,
where his second son, Richard, was born.
There are ten letters in John Bigg's surviving correspondence with George Templer. They deal
with various business matters, with orders, costs and debts, and begin in November 1833.
The first letter from London that refers to William is dated 5 December.
The handwriting is large and swift, almost sprawling across the page. The tone is brisk, even
brusque.
'Dear Sir - Certainly you must deduct from Bayley some of the Quarry debt in Low Level and
No 1, if he intends to give up the Quarry. The amount I leave to your judgement, not to your
feelings.
'As regards Honeycombe's petition for the five pounds, the Board do not like to sanction the
principle of exceeding any sum allowed. It is a "spice" of the old pudding, and ought to be done
away with! However, the five pounds may be allowed, but it must be paid back; £2.10 at Lady
Day and £2.10 at Midsummer next. Your argument or rather ad captandum statement of the
pregnancy of his wife is all very well if we could afford to be charitable; but such topics are all
ad misericordiam, and really quite out of the question. Truly yrs. J Bigg, Sec'
Elizabeth Honeycombe was then pregnant with the second Henry (born in March 1834).
Mr Bigg wrote again on 16 January 1834. Among other things he said that money was scarce;
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