Exeter Cathedral has been given planning permission by Devon County Council to remove 5m3 of stone each year for the next 10 years from Dunscombe Manor Quarry near Sidmouth.
The quarry was last used in the 1980s for the production of stone for the cathedral.
Much of the west front of the Cathedral is built in Salcombe stone from the Dunscombe Manor Quarry.
Cathedral records show that between the 12th and 14th centuries stone from the quarry was carted to the nearby cliff edge and let down on ropes to the beach below, to be shipped by barge to Topsham and on to the cathedral.