Monument record MDR9462 - Redhill Quarry, Middleton Top; Cromford & High Peak Railway
Type and Period (1)
- LIMESTONE QUARRY (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Protected Status/Designation
- None recorded
Full Description
Redhill Limestone Quarry. Approximately 60m x 60m, the quarry face is approximately 15m high. The quarry is enclosed on three sides and open to the south in the direction of the Cromford & High Peak Railway siding and loading docks. Large quarried blocks still remain.
A number of quarries sprang up or expanded following the opening of the Cromford and High Peak Railway in 1830/1 including Redhill. (5)
The small Redhill Quarry was located on the northern side of the Cromford and High Peak Railway [SMR 99001] near the top of the former Middleton Incline. The early history of the site is a little obscure. Apparently the first quarry was opened up here by the Spencer Brothers probably in the 1890s, but abandoned, then sold to the Stanton Iron Company and left dormant, in part due to an access problem with the Killer Brothers of Middleton who were competing in the flux stone market and controlled the intervening land. No quarry was in evidence at the time of the 1899 Ordnance Survey. The sequaence of events then becomes clearer by reference to the judgement of the 1910 court when the proceedings recorded that in 1907, Samuel F Spencer (apparently not related to the Spencer Brothers above) had obtained a lease from the Stanton Iron Company to work Redhill which had hitherto only been producing fluxing stone. S F Spencer then began to produce blockstone and sold this into the dimension stone trade. Within two to three years the lease had been transferred to TT Gething, a stone merchant based in Kensington, London and latterly Hopton Wood Stone Firm's London sales agent. In 1924 Redhill was purchased by Hopton Wood Stone Firm to remove any chance of competition. It was presumably closed shortly afterwards as it is not referred to operationally in their company's of their successor's minutes from 1930 onwards. In World War Two Redhill was concidered as a munitions stonre for the RAF. Much later it was suggested that the waste problem at Intake [SMR 33012] could be resolved by tipping material in Redhill. Tarmac declined this idea as it could curtail options to reopen Redhill at somepoint in the future. Redhill continues to be dormant and was used as a picnic area for the nearby Middleton Top Visitor Centre under an informal arrangement with Tarmac. The position was formalised in June 1998 as part of the events of Minerals '98. (6)
Sources/Archives (6)
- <1> SDR19352 Archive: Jessop, O. 2003. Cromford & High Peak Railway and Peak Forest Tramway Survey. ARCUS 738b. Feature number: 118.
- <2> SDR19353 Photograph: ARCUS. 2003. Cromford & High Peak Railway and Peak Forest Tramway Survey, Project 738b. Digital photograph. 172-73.
- <3> SDR19350 Map: Ordnance Survey (OS). 2003. OS Landline (2003) from EDINA Digimap. 1:2000.
- <4> SDR19351 Map: Ordnance Survey (OS). 2002. OS Explorer 0L24 (2002).
- <5> SDR21446 Unpublished document: Thomas, I (National Stone Centre). 2012. The Lower Derwent Valley: The Exploitation and Use of Historic Building Materials. p 27.
- <6> SDR21449 Bibliographic reference: Tarmac Ltd. 2000. Tarmac Papers: The Archives and History Initiative of Tarmac Limited Volume IV. p 308/9.
Map
Location
| Grid reference | Centred SK 27475 55247 (112m by 144m) (Approximate) |
|---|---|
| Civil Parish | MIDDLETON, DERBYSHIRE DALES, DERBYSHIRE |
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Events/Activities (1)
- EDR1790
Please contact the HER for details.
External Links (0)
Record last edited
Dec 21 2018 9:27AM