Monument record 9493/1/1 - Early C20th Gravel Pits

{1} Now a pleasure park, Billing Aquadrome dates from the 1930s when the site was a large gravel extraction enterprise.

{3} Billing Gravel Pits are apparently slightly older; these are the earliest and most exploited pits in the county. Here Billing Aquadrome Ltd was established in 1935, although gravel exatrction continued on the site until 1960. Expansion took place in 1970 when a gravel pit was turned into a boating marina for 110 floating berths, and today the Aquadrome is essentially a caravan park with pleasant surroundings of water-filled pits, lawns and poplars. It is described as Northampton's holiday park.

<1> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 2001, NIAG Industrial Gazetteer, (part checked) (Draft). SNN101121.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1950, Ordnance Survey 1950s Mapping Series (SP86), (part checked) (Map). SNN59987.

<3> Mackaness S., 1995, Billing Aquadrome, p.74 (part checked) (Correspondence). SNN109344.

<4> Laundon J.R., 2006, The Importance of Northamptonshire's Reservoirs, p.74 (part checked) (Article). SNN109288.

Record last edited

Feb 20 2014 4:02PM