Contributions of the group Quarries and Quarrying

Dry stone

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 05:46:54 +0000

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This structure stands in the limestone quarry at Aberthaw. It stores the stone after it comes up from the quarry face and keeps it dry until taken along the conveyor belt to the nearby cement works.

Cemex, Dove Holes

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:53:18 +0000

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Dove Holes quarry is operated by Cemex and ships out vast quantities of limestone by road and rail. The quarry is an amalgamation of the earlier Holderness and Newline quarries both of which have been lowered to the water table. Recent developments have seen the quarry expand northwards into the Bee Low area. There is a large area of fixed plant for crushing and screening the stone. The stone is taken by conveyor from the tipping dock and primary crusher to a stockpile under the gantry at lower centre of the image.

Abandoned

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 05:53:14 +0000

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The long disused stone handling plant at Crich quarry. Opened by The Clay Cross Company in the 19th century and supplying limekilns near Ambergate via a metre gauge railway, the quarry closed in 1958. Reopening for roadstone occurred in the 1960's and it was operated by RMC and Tarmac before passing to Aggregate Industries ownership in 2000. Final closure came in 2010.

JCB

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 06:42:21 +0000

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The rise and rise of JCB is a British success story and the plant manufacturer continues to expand its business. This is part of the JCB demonstration at the Hillhead quarry exhibition which also saw the spotlight on its most powerful and productive excavator ever, the 52-tonne 520X.

Asphalt

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 05:38:03 +0000

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The tallest piece of fixed equipment at this year's Hillhead quarry exhibition was this asphalt plant from the Turkish manufacturer E-MAK that specialises in asphalt and aggregate plant.

Gravel loader

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 16:59:37 +0000

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Attenborough sand and gravel pit was established in Nottinghamshire in the 1920s. Since then the pit has expanded up the Trent Valley in Nottinghamshire, and into Derbyshire. The extraction at the time (2009), operated by CEMEX UK Materials (Aggregates) Ltd, was undertaken almost 5km from the processing plant and material is moved across the flooded former workings with barges pushed by Bantam tugs.

The flooded pits form an extensive nature reserve which is managed by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and Broxtowe Borough Council. Here an empty barge is arriving under the loader with the chimney and cooling towers of Ratcliffe power station in the background. This interesting water traffic seems to have ended in 2016 after exhaustion of the gravel reserves.

Mountsorrel

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Tue, 05 May 2026 04:47:38 +0000

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Primary stone processing buildings at the Lafarge (now Tarmac) granite quarry at Mountsorrel.

Hardendale kilns

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 06:03:02 +0000

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Four Maerz PFR (parallel flow regenerative shaft kiln) limekilns at the Tata Steel operated Hardendale Quarry at Shap. A Maerz kiln can process up to 800 tons of burnt lime per day.

These kilns are currently mothballed whilst the Port Talbot steelworks is remodelled with electric arc melting technology.

Shap Beck

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 06:43:38 +0000

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The Shap Beck Quarry received a new plant in 1999 and since 2009 supplies around 650,000 tonnes of crushed kiln feed limestone from Shap Beck to Shap Fell processing plant nearby (Tata steel) and used in the large scale production of lime for steelmaking. The quarry also supplies around 300,000 to local and regional markets and has an on-site plant for making asphalt for road surfacing. There are 21 people employed directly and the quarry supports a further 30 jobs for drivers and contractors. The site extends to 118 hectares and is now operated by Heidelberg Materials

Asphalt

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 05:33:05 +0000

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A section of the asphalt plant at the Lafarge (now Tarmac) granite quarry at Mountsorrel.

Draw holes

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 06:04:26 +0000

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Draw holes inside one of the large derelict limekilns at Porth-y-Waen. The banks of kilns here burned limestone from the Llynclys quarry on the hillside above.

Vollert

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 05:58:19 +0000

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'High Peak' is a Co-Co diesel hydraulic shunter built by Vollert (O2/013 2013) and operated by Tarmac plc at Tunstead Quarry. It is one of only two Vollert built locos imported into the UK. Behind is one of the three 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic locomotives at Tunstead.

The old kilns

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 05:50:10 +0000

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The shaft limekilns at Tunstead quarry before recladding. Six of these eight kilns have been in use for around 90 years.

Brierlow

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 07:32:00 +0000

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Spencer type limekilns at Beswicks Limeworks, Brierlow near Buxton in 1909.

Rheinkalk Werk Hönnetal

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 15:03:47 +0000

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Three limekilns at the Lhoist operated Rheinkalk Werk Hönnetal, Oberrödinghausen. One rotary kiln and a pair of Maerz type kilns. Around 200 people currently work in the quarry, kilns, processing plant, and in administration. Approximately 800,000 tons of quicklime and around 900,000 tons of unburnt limestone products are produced annually.

Crushing

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 07:03:36 +0000

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A happy afternoon some years ago exploring an old abandoned stone quarry which yielded lots of old machinery quietly rusting and rotting away. Here two crushers sit side-by-side, both made by Robert Broadbent & Son Ltd., Phoenix Ironworks, Stalybridge. On the left is a jaw crusher of the Blake's patent type for primary crushing of larger pieces of rock. To the right is a roll crusher designed to break smaller pieces of rock down to cubes for roads and paths etc. I think that the remains below the crushers might have included some form of rotary screen but the decay of the various parts made it difficult to be sure.

Excavation

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 06:40:26 +0000

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This beast lurks within a small quarry near Hazelbadge Hall abover Bradwell.

Dove Holes

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 16:18:48 +0000

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Whitwell Quarry

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 12 Oct 2025 05:38:34 +0000

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The high purity dolomitic limestone extracted at the Tarmac operated Whitwell quarry is burned in the rotary kilns of the adjoining lime processing plant (operated by Lhoist) for use in refractory products and steel manufacture. There are only two quarries in the UK that produce limestone which is suitable for these specialist uses and both quarries are recognised sources of national importance of this mineral. Other grades of limestone present at the quarry that is not suitable for use in the kilns is used principally to produce agricultural lime and aggregates.

Graig Quarry

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 06:34:43 +0000

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Storage bins alongside the tarmacadam plant at the Lafarge operated Graig Quarry, Llanarmon.