Monument record 8406/1/1 - Early Quarries & Mines (The Firs)

{1} When operations commenced in 1858 both mining and opencast quarrying were used at The Firs, a patch of woodland on the summit of the ridge to south-east of the village. A narrow gauge rope-worked incline ran down to a point just south of the Grendon road, where there was a tipping dock to a standard gauge line connecting to the Northampton to Peterborough LNWR line between Billing and Castle Ashby stations.
In The Firs the upper course of the tramway is marked by a hollow between the trees that runs into a wider gullet trending north-west to south-east. This was probably widened later as an extension of the Whiston Quarries, but an old face on the south side looks much older than WWI, and was almost certainly left by the Cogenhoe Iron Ore Co. West of this is a depression in higher ground running south, and suggesting workings possibly for limestone; this section is completely overgrown. Of the mines there are no visible traces.

{2} The mines were short-lived, the bulk of the stone being got was opencast.

{3} The mines are about to be opened out.

<1> Tonks E., 1989, The Ironstone Quarries of The Midlands (History, Operation and Railways): The Northampton Area, p.128-33 (checked) (Book). SNN47272.

<2> 1859, The Mining Journal, p.814 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN107211.

<3> 1868, The Mining Journal, p.194 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN107212.

Record last edited

Jun 25 2013 11:44AM