Quarries of the Mendip Hills
Encyclopedia
Mendip Hills
The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north...
are the most southerly Carboniferous Limestone
Carboniferous limestone
Carboniferous Limestone is a term used to describe a variety of different types of limestone occurring widely across Great Britain and Ireland which were deposited during the Dinantian epoch of the Carboniferous period. They were formed between 363 and 325 million years ago...
Upland in Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and are found in northern Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
.
They are composed of three major anticlinal structures, each with a core of older Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and Silurian
Silurian
The Silurian is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Ordovician Period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Devonian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya . As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the...
volcanic
Volcanism
Volcanism is the phenomenon connected with volcanoes and volcanic activity. It includes all phenomena resulting from and causing magma within the crust or mantle of a planet to rise through the crust and form volcanic rocks on the surface....
rocks. The latter are quarried for use in road construction and as a concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
aggregate.
In recent centuries the hills, like the Cotswolds
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
to the north, have been quarried for stone to build the cities of Bath and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, as well as smaller towns in Somerset. The quarries are major suppliers of road stone to southern England, between them producing around twelve million tonnes a year, employing over two thousand people with an annual turnover of £150m.
There are two main rock types on the Mendips: the Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
Sandstones visible around Black Down
Black Down, Somerset
Black Down is the highest hill in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, in south-western England. Black Down lies just a few miles eastward of the Bristol Channel at Weston-super-Mare, and provides a view over the Chew Valley...
and Downhead
Downhead
Downhead is a village and civil parish close to Leigh-on-Mendip and north east of Shepton Mallet, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the medieval settlement of Tadhill.-History:...
and the Carboniferous Limestones
Carboniferous limestone
Carboniferous Limestone is a term used to describe a variety of different types of limestone occurring widely across Great Britain and Ireland which were deposited during the Dinantian epoch of the Carboniferous period. They were formed between 363 and 325 million years ago...
, which dominate the hills and surround the older rock formations.
A large proportion of the stone (about 5 million tonnes per year) is moved by rail company Mendip Rail
Mendip Rail
Mendip Rail Ltd is an independent freight operating railway company in Great Britain. It is composed of the rail-operation divisions of Aggregate Industries and Hanson Aggregates ....
.
Active quarries
| Name | Location | Map | owners/operators | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batts Combe Quarry Batts Combe quarry Batts Combe quarry, is a limestone quarry on the edge of Cheddar village on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.It has been operating since the early 20th century and is owned and operated by Singleton Birch Ltd... |
Cheddar Cheddar Cheddar is a large village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of the English county of Somerset. It is situated on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, north-west of Wells. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Nyland and Bradley Cross... |
Hanson Aggregates Hanson plc Hanson plc is a British based international building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. Traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index for many years, the company was acquired by a division of German rival Heidelberg Cement in August 2007.-History:Hanson... |
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| Callow Rock Quarry Callow Rock quarry Callow Rock quarry is a limestone quarry located between Cheddar and Shipham on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.The quarry has been operating since the early 20th century and is now operated by Bardon Aggregates.-References:... |
Cheddar Cheddar Cheddar is a large village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of the English county of Somerset. It is situated on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, north-west of Wells. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Nyland and Bradley Cross... |
Bardon Aggregates | ||
| Colemans Quarry Colemans Quarry Colemans Quarry, is a limestone quarry at Holwell, near Nunney on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.The Colemans Quarry complex comprises four pits separated by three roads... |
Holwell near Nunney Nunney Nunney is a village and civil parish near Frome in the Mendip local government district within the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the hamlet of Holwell.The name of the village comes from Old English and means Nunna's island.... |
Bardon Aggregates | ||
| Doulting Stone Quarry Doulting Stone Quarry Doulting Stone Quarry is a limestone quarry at Doulting, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.At Present there are only three quarries in the country quarrying Doulting stone. The Largest has been producing stone since Roman times.... |
Doulting Doulting Doulting is a village and civil parish east of Shepton Mallet, on the A361, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England.-History:The parish of Doulting was part of the Whitstone Hundred.... |
Independent business. | ||
| Dulcote Quarry (closed) | Dulcote near Wells Wells Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205... |
Foster Yeoman Foster Yeoman Foster Yeoman Limited, based in the United Kingdom, is one of Europe's largest quarrying and asphalt companies, owned by Swiss construction materials conglomerate Holcim.-Company history:... - Bardon Aggregates |
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| Halecombe Halecombe Halecombe, is a limestone quarry near Leigh-on-Mendip on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.The quarry exhibits pale to dark grey well-bedded Carboniferous Limestone, about 350-320 million years old, dipping steeply and consistently northwards and numerous “fist-sized” calcite inclusions within... |
Leigh-on-Mendip Leigh-on-Mendip Leigh-on-Mendip or Leigh upon Mendip is a small village on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. It lies roughly equidistant from Frome, Radstock and Shepton Mallet at about from each town.... |
Tarmac Tarmac Tarmac is a type of road surface. Tarmac refers to a material patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901... |
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| Gurney Slade Quarry Gurney Slade quarry Gurney Slade quarry, is a limestone quarry near Gurney Slade between Binegar and Holcombe, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.Gurney Slade quarry exhibits pale to very dark grey Carboniferous Limestone overlain by red and purple-coloured Triassic breccias and marls with a small faulted block... |
Gurney Slade Ashwick Ashwick is a village in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, about three miles north of Shepton Mallet and seven miles east from Wells. It has also been a civil parish since 1826... between Binegar Binegar Binegar is a small village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is located on the A37, east of Wells, between Shepton Mallet and Chilcompton. Its population in 2001 was 328.-History:... and Holcombe Holcombe, Somerset Holcombe is a small village and civil parish in the Mendip local government district of Somerset, England. The parish contains the hamlets of Barlake and Edford... |
Morris & Perry (Gurney Slade) Ltd | ||
| Moon's Hill Quarry Moon's Hill Quarry Moon's Hill Quarry is a 3.42 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Stoke St Michael in Somerset, notified in 1996 and is a Geological Conservation Review site.... |
Stoke St Michael Stoke St Michael Stoke St Michael is a village and civil parish on the Mendip Hills north east of Shepton Mallet, and west of Frome, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England.-History:... |
John Wainwright & Co Ltd | Geological Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
| Torr Works Torr Works Torr Works quarry, is a limestone quarry at East Cranmore, near Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. It is also known as Merehead Quarry.... |
East Cranmore / Downhead Downhead Downhead is a village and civil parish close to Leigh-on-Mendip and north east of Shepton Mallet, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the medieval settlement of Tadhill.-History:... |
Foster Yeoman Foster Yeoman Foster Yeoman Limited, based in the United Kingdom, is one of Europe's largest quarrying and asphalt companies, owned by Swiss construction materials conglomerate Holcim.-Company history:... - Bardon Aggregates |
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| Whatley Quarry Whatley Quarry Whatley Quarry, is a limestone quarry owned by Hanson plc, near the village of Whatley on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.The quarry exhibits pale to dark grey Carboniferous Limestone with small area of overlying horizontally bedded buff-coloured Jurassic oolitic limestone forming an angular... |
Whatley | ARC Amalgamated Roadstone Corporation Amalgamated Roadstone Corporation was a British stone quarrying company.- History :Amalgamated Roadstone Corporation Ltd. was formed on 23 April 1935 to acquire a number of quarries in Britain. In 1947 ARC acquired the majority of the shares of the British Quarrying Co Ltd and its associated... |
Disused quarries
- Barnclose Quarry
- Cliff Quarry, Compton Martin
- Cloford QuarryCloford QuarryCloford Quarry is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest to the south of the A361 approximately north of the hamlet of Cloford and west of Nunney on the Mendip Hills in Somerset...
— geological Site of Special Scientific Interest - Cloud QuarryCloud QuarryCloud Quarry was a quarry near Temple Cloud, in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England.During World War II a factory was built in the disused quarry to make tyres for Avro Lancaster Bomber. The roof was painted blue in an attempt to fool German bombers. The factory is now used for...
- Cook's Wood QuarryCook's Wood QuarryCook's Wood Quarry is a 0.8 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Stoke St Michael on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, notified in 1988....
— geological Site of Special Scientific Interest - Draycott Quarry
- Emborough QuarriesEmborough QuarriesEmborough Quarries is a 1 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Emborough in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1971....
— geological Site of Special Scientific Interest - Fairy Cave QuarryFairy Cave QuarryFairy Cave Quarry is between Stoke St Michael and Oakhill in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England.Quarrying was first started on the site in the early 1920s. In 1963 the quarry was acquired by Hobbs Ltd., and production on a much larger scale began...
- Hobbs QuarryHobbs QuarryHobbs Quarry is a 0.5 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, notified in 1984....
— geological Site of Special Scientific Interest - Holwell QuarriesHolwell QuarriesHolwell Quarries is a 1.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Holwell near Nunney on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, notified in 1952....
— geological Site of Special Scientific Interest - Shipham Quarry
- Underwood Quarry (near Wells)
- Viaduct QuarryViaduct QuarryViaduct Quarry is a 0.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, notified in 1984....
— geological Site of Special Scientific Interest - Westbury Quarry
- Windsor Hill QuarryWindsor Hill QuarryWindsor Hill Quarry is a 0.8 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, adjacent to the Windsor Hill Marsh biological Site of Special Scientific Interest...
— geological Site of Special Scientific Interest