Sandford Hill Quarry
Sandford Quarry
This quarry occupies a prominent site at the western end of the pronounced limestone ridge running eastwards to Burrington and beyond and is also located midway between Sandford and Winscombe villages. Like Callow Hill and Batts Coombe, it exploited the very pure Burrington Oolite.
Commercial quarrying began on Sandford Hill in the mid 19th century, and was given a particular boost when the branch line to the mainline at Yatton reached here in 1869. Sandford stone was reputed to have been used in the construction of Avonmouth Docks opened in 1877 and in the expansion of Temple Meads Station, Bristol, in the same period (although the main walling stone was from Draycott near Cheddar). However, even in 1885, the quarry appears to have had no direct rail connection to the branch line, only 300m away. At least two banks of lime kilns were then located here. Although those along Quarry Lane are the most evident, they were only some of many in the parish. By 1895, Alfred Weeks was running Sandford Hill Quarry with five men.
In 1910, the Winscombe Stone and Lime Co. Ltd. was registered as a private company with a capital of £2 000 to carry on the quarry businesses of A G Weeks at Winscombe and Sandford Hill quarries as 'quarry master', stone and lime merchant haulier. By 1920 the company had been reformed as Sandford and Conygar Quarries Co., taking in Conygar sandstone quarry near Portishead.
In 1922 there was a debate over the boundary between this quarry holding and that known as the 'Award land', owned by the ecclesiastical parish, where from 1798, parishioners had a right to obtain stone to meet their duty to repair local roads. The matter was resolved by the company agreeing to pay £8 a year for the privilege of working the site. A steam driven processing plant was introduced.
Soon after it became one of the first Somerset quarries to be absorbed by Roads Reconstruction Ltd. During World War II, Italian prisoners of war worked in the quarries and kilns with local men, with production rising to 50 000 tonnes in 1951. By the time the rail link closed in 1964, the working area had extended eastward creating 'a hollow tooth' feature. In the 1970s a medium sized aggregates plant served an asphalt unit and a concrete works, the latter consuming about half the output, roadstone making up about 25%. In 1972, like Batts Coombe and Callow Rock, the site fell within the area designated nationally as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the next year it also came within the newly created County of Avon (now North Somerset).
In 1993 Sandford Hill Quarry ceased working on the parish land, and in the mid 1990s, the quarry closed as part of an arrangement to extend Whatley Quarry. The 'award land' reverted to the parish and was converted to a nature reserve. Parts of the site are now used by the local activity centre 'The Action Centre' for training in climbing and abseiling.
Sandford Hill Quarry
Sandford Quarry
This quarry occupies a prominent site at the western end of the pronounced limestone ridge running eastwards to Burrington and beyond and is also located midway between Sandford and Winscombe villages. Like Callow Hill and Batts Coombe, it exploited the very pure Burrington Oolite.
Commercial quarrying began on Sandford Hill in the mid 19th century, and was given a particular boost when the branch line to the mainline at Yatton reached here in 1869. Sandford stone was reputed to have been used in the construction of Avonmouth Docks opened in 1877 and in the expansion of Temple Meads Station, Bristol, in the same period (although the main walling stone was from Draycott near Cheddar). However, even in 1885, the quarry appears to have had no direct rail connection to the branch line, only 300m away. At least two banks of lime kilns were then located here. Although those along Quarry Lane are the most evident, they were only some of many in the parish. By 1895, Alfred Weeks was running Sandford Hill Quarry with five men.
In 1910, the Winscombe Stone and Lime Co. Ltd. was registered as a private company with a capital of £2 000 to carry on the quarry businesses of A G Weeks at Winscombe and Sandford Hill quarries as 'quarry master', stone and lime merchant haulier. By 1920 the company had been reformed as Sandford and Conygar Quarries Co., taking in Conygar sandstone quarry near Portishead.
In 1922 there was a debate over the boundary between this quarry holding and that known as the 'Award land', owned by the ecclesiastical parish, where from 1798, parishioners had a right to obtain stone to meet their duty to repair local roads. The matter was resolved by the company agreeing to pay £8 a year for the privilege of working the site. A steam driven processing plant was introduced.
Soon after it became one of the first Somerset quarries to be absorbed by Roads Reconstruction Ltd. During World War II, Italian prisoners of war worked in the quarries and kilns with local men, with production rising to 50 000 tonnes in 1951. By the time the rail link closed in 1964, the working area had extended eastward creating 'a hollow tooth' feature. In the 1970s a medium sized aggregates plant served an asphalt unit and a concrete works, the latter consuming about half the output, roadstone making up about 25%. In 1972, like Batts Coombe and Callow Rock, the site fell within the area designated nationally as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the next year it also came within the newly created County of Avon (now North Somerset).
In 1993 Sandford Hill Quarry ceased working on the parish land, and in the mid 1990s, the quarry closed as part of an arrangement to extend Whatley Quarry. The 'award land' reverted to the parish and was converted to a nature reserve. Parts of the site are now used by the local activity centre 'The Action Centre' for training in climbing and abseiling.