Monument record 8423/1 - Ironstone Workings (Stanton)

The owners were Stanton Ironworks Co.Ltd from 1892 until the closure of the pit in 1908. Probable ironstone quarries are visible on historical aerial photographs and lidar imagery and the quarrying covers a large area of land north and northeast of Irchester.

{1} Owners from 1892 Stanton Ironworks Co.Ltd until closure in 1908. This quarry came to light with excavation of the Higham Ferrers branch line of the Midland Main Line. Workings started on the north side of the line 1893 but was limited due to the slope of the ground towards the river Nene and at a later date transfered to the southern side of the line. An unusual feature was that the quarry encroached on the railway bank and ore from the railway side of the fence had to be weighed seperately for the calculation of royalties. Worked ceased on the site in November 1908.

{3} Geophyical survey identified the site of the former quarry. The weakness of this anomaly and the scarcity of magnetic dipoles in this area shows that the fill of the quarry is likely to be relatively ‘clean’ sediment containing very little ferrous debris.

{5, 6} Probable ironstone quarries are visible on historical aerial photographs and lidar imagery and their full extant (as visible on the photographs and lidar) were mapped as part of the Bedford Borough NMP project. The quarrying covers a large area of land north and northeast of Irchester and centred at SP 92351 66343.

<1> Tonks E., 1990, The Ironstone Quarries of The Midlands (History, Operation and Railways): The Wellingborough Area, p.69-70 (unchecked) (Book). SNN45742.

<2> Carr, D., 2011, Irchester Ironstone Quarries: Key Dates and Events, (unchecked) (Book). SNN108267.

<3> Walford, J, 2019, Archaeological geophysical survey of Flood Relief Zone 5, Stanton Cross, Wellingborough (Report). SNN112418.

<4> Crank, N. (Editor), 2020, South Midlands Archaeology (50), p. 89-90 (Journal). SNN112426.

<5> Environment Agency, LIDAR Composite DTM - 1m, LIDAR SP9266/SP9265 Environment Agency 1M DTM 01 Oct 2014 - 31 May 2017 (Digital Plots). SNN111710.

<6> Vertical Aerial Photograph, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM 01-JAN-2006 ACCESSED 29-MAR-2019 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<7> Bedford Borough Council HER, Undated, Bedford Borough NMP, MD003015 (Archive). SNN113023.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 8:18PM