Monument record 8462/1 - Woodford Quarries & Mines (Woodford Iron Ore Co; Twywell Iorn Ore Co)

{1} Samples of ore supplied by General Charles George Arbuthnot from his estate adjoining Woodford House were shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and were responsible for the start of the Northamptonshire iorn ore industry.
It would appear that attempts at commercial quarrying were occurring at Woodford from about 1860 but were hampered by lack of suitable transport; the opening of the Midland Railway line from Kettering to Thrapston in 1866 allowed the quarries under the name of Woodford Iron Ore Co. to commence trading.
The exact location of the first quarries is not recorded but it believed to be south of Twywell village and north of the Thrapston to Kettering road. The Arbuthnot family appear to have fallen on hard times from 1881.Woodford House had already been put up for auction in 1880, and among the effects were 'railway and tramways with sidings at Twywell station', along with a locomotive house and wagon shop.
The quarries were later taken over by Twywell Iron Ore Co. from 1882 and continued to be worked in a south westerley direction north of the A604 until opposite Woodford Lodge. New quarries were then opened between in the field south of the A604.
On 5th April 1882 Woodford House and the estates were again put up for sale. Woodford House was purchased in April 1883 by C.H.Plevins, proprietor of the nearby Islip Ironworks, who had lived in Woodford since about 1871. Plevins reopened the question of building an ironworks here, comprising blast furnaces, calcining and drying banks, and other equipment. However, it was not considered that there was the quantity of workable stone here to ensure continuity of supply for very many years and nothing came of Plevin's plans.
The quarries eventually closed in 1890. The quarry lines were lifted and trees closed in on the abandoned workings, which are however otherwise relatively untouched. The layout of the narrow gauge on the higher ground is clearly discernable, and the standard line is also clearly defined to where it passed under the main road by a tunnel of red brick, some 20ft below the surface. The southern parapet is a wooden fence, the northern of red brick capped by rough ironstone blocks. All the area south of the road is thickly wooded, but to the north has been reinstated to farmland, sweeping away traces of the Woodford line between tunnel and brickworks. Parts of the workinh faces remain, as does the bridge over the brook, constructed of planks and rail supported on ironstone walls.
A very early branch had bene laid towards the main road, and alongside it were adits to the short-lived mines. These adits could still be seen in 1920 but were filled in in the mid 1950s, and the slope is now marked by a line of trees. The in-fill is starting to slip, exposing some of the former adits.

{2} 2 or 3 Roman pots and at least 4 Anglo-Saxon undecorated pots found during C19th quarrying in the area, now at St. Nicholas church, Twywell. All the pots appear to be complete examples.

<1> Tonks E., 1991, The Ironstone Quarries of The Midlands (History, Operation and Railways): The Kettering Area, p.78-85 (part checked) (Book). SNN44039.

<2> Cadman, G., 2005, Church of St. Nicholas, Twywell, (unchecked) (Note). SNN106982.

Record last edited

Nov 25 2010 3:08PM