Monument record 583/5 - Slaters' & Lime-Burners' Plots at Collyweston

{1} Long, narrow aportionments of land are shown by the Ordnance Survey, some containing quarry pits and/or lime kilns.

{2} The quarries today are found in long, narrow stone-walled slaters’ plots to the west of the village. They are entered by the means of ‘foxholes’ giving access to the slate ‘log’ which varies from a few inches to 3 feet in thickness, lying over a bed of Northampton Sand. This is picked out with a foxing pick in December and January so that the slate stone can be barrowed out to the surface. Here it is laid out and watered for the winter frosts to help the natural cleavage. The logs are then reading for splitting or ‘cliving’ and then dressed into suitable shapes. A bill is used to peck nail holes near the head of the slates. During the rest of the year the slaters fix the tiles to roofs.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1880s, First Edition OS 6 Inch Mapping Series (1SE), (part checked) (Map). SNN107873.

<2> Steane J., 1974, The Northamptonshire Landscape, p.180-81 (checked) (Book). SNN5137.

Record last edited

Dec 20 2012 3:01PM