Monument record MDR13551 - Parish Quarry, Via Gellia, Bonsall

Parish Quarry is shown on the 1880 Ordnance Survey plan as two distinct workings (which could still be identified until fairly recently). Although it was presumably a quarry opened up by the parish administrators to supply stone for road repairs, it is too distant from the main settlements and farms to be of particular use to them and the responsibility for maintaining the Via Gellia was unlikely to lie with the parish. Furthermore, the quarry is not identified on the Bonsall tithe map of 1900. The site was also then on the Gell Estate. The remains of old limekilns [SMR 9643] at the roadside suggest early workings but no documentary evidence could be found to support this. Planning records from the late 1940s indicate that the operators were Wakefield and Spencer. By 1963/4, WG Wakefield (Limestone) Ltd. was apparently the operator. For a very short period the site was under the control of a Mr Bush of Alfreton, but was acquired in about 1965/6 by Bradley and Sons (Contractors) Ltd. They worked the site mainly for crushed aggregates and agricultural limestone dust, together with a small amount of monumental and building stone. The Bradley family sold out to Sir Alfred McALpine in 1986 and the former continued in road haulage, based at Longcliffe. McAlpine's had made strenuous efforts to gain a foothold in Derbyshire. Following purchase the rate of quarrying was stepped up with the result that the limestone was worked northwards, apparently removing the toe of the overlying, weathered Lower Matlock Lava, triggering an incipient landslide. Heavy rain had lubricated the junction between the lava and limestone. The contact between the two in any case dips slightly towards the valley and much of the area is overlain by Boulder Clay. At this point the quarry ceased production and a major engineering scheme then followed to secure the area and in particular, to ensure the safety of Slaley village above. The site came into the possession of Tarmac following control of McAlpine's Quarries by Wimpey and the 'houses for quarries asset swop'. (1) There is are two Quarries situated at the side of the Via Gellia road on the 1st edition 25" Ordnance Survey map of c. 1880. (2) Modern maps show this quarry to be Parish Quarry, considerably extended from the 1st edition map. (3)