Monument record MDR13771 - New Hopton Wood Quarry, The Moor, Middleton

A number of quarries sprang up or expanded following the opening of the Cromford and High Peak railway in 1830/1 including the contentious New Hopton Wood above Middleton village. (1) Of all the quarries in the area, Water Lane, Middleton (otherwise known as New Hopton Wood) is particularly poorly documented. The 1880 Ordnance Survey plan shows the route of a tramway (but no track) leading from the Cromford and High Peak railway to a small quarry at Water Lane, immediately to the west of Middleton. By 1899 the quarry had grown a little and appears to have contained a small tramway. A judgement of the High Court in 1910 required the use of 'New' to style the company 'The New Hopton Wood Stone and Marble Company' to avoid doubt and distinguish it from the Hopton Wood Stone Firm Ltd. On the 1922 OS plan the quarry had grown considerably and the access tramway had been reintroduced with an obvious second adjacent quarry to the south. The only alternative to the tramway was via a steep cart track down under the heart of the narrow lanes in Middleton village. This site came into the control of Hopton Wood Stone Firm Ltd. in 1924. Killers Middleton Quarry was extended westward, thereby severing the direct and level tramway route to the Cromford and High Peak railway, effectively closing this access option and double blocking any attempts to establish competing operations. (2) From 1907 Spencer, a local man, then Hodson worked a quarry in the Monsal Dale Limestone for block-stone. This operation was positioned immediately above and just to the west of Hopton Wood Stone Firm Ltd.'s Middleton Quarry [SMR 33014] and was then referred to as Redhill. It was later known as Water Lane or New Hoptonwood Quarry. New Hoptonwood Stone is described as an alternating brown and fawn compact stone. In 1924 the quarry was sold to Hopton Wood Stone Firm Ltd, who very shortly afterwards extended their Middleton Quarry, severing the rail link to New Hoptonwood Quarry. The Quarry had closed by 1930. (3)