1. The History
The Derbyshire village of Crich lies on a small inlier of carboniferous limestone. Quarrying for limestone goes back to Roman times but in more recent times, in 1791, Benjamin Outram and Samuel Beresford bought the land here for a quarry to supply limestone for their ironworks in Butterley. It became known as Hilt's Quarry and it replaced the old Warner Quarry. The Butterley gangroad was built in 1793 to link the quarry with the Cromford Canal at Bullbridge and was one of the first railways in the East Midlands (and maybe even in the world!) to successfully operate with steam locomotives. The gangroad descending approximately 300 feet in approximately one mile and was at first worked by gravity. A brakeman would "spragg" (or apply a simple brake to) the wheels of the wagons, which were returned to the summit by horses.
The history doesn’t stop there. In 1812 the incline was the scene of a remarkable experiment when William Brunton, an engineer for the company, produced his steam horse locomotive. In 1840 George Stephenson leased the quarry and built limekilns at Bullbridge to provided lime to burn with coal slack.
The quarry in the 1900s:
Crich_Quarry_1900s by HughieDW, on Flickr
Hilt's Quarry closed in 1933. For 38 years, Rolls-Royce used it for dumping low-level radioactive waste including enriched uranium, cobalt-60 and carbon-14. Following a campaign by villagers in Crich the dumping ceased in 2002. In 2004 the Environment Agency banned further dumping, and Rolls-Royce were ordered to restore and landscape the site. The quarry was last used by Bardon Aggregates who closed it in 2010 after finding the limestone was contaminated with a substance that turned it a funny colour. It never reopened after that and has since been abandoned.
2. The Explore
Very relaxed explore here. Access is very easy and there’s no security as such. Just the odd glance from tourists at the adjacent Crich Tram Museum that lies parallel to the site. The place has been done to death over the years and the machines are now trashed and rusty. Well worth an hour of your time as you can’t beat a bit of heavyweight industrial mining porn, can you?
3. The Pictures
On the way in:
img1111 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The cliff to the north-east of the quarry:
img1110 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1109 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1107 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Trashed admin offices:
Crich Quarry 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr
On to the main attraction:
Crich Quarry 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1094 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1093 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1092 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1091 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1085 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And up onto the machinery:
img1105 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1103 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1102 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1088 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Heavy metal:
img1087 by HughieDW, on Flickr
On to Control post No.18 (must have missed the other 17):
img1098 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Everything’s trashed in here now:
img1100 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img1099 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The Derbyshire village of Crich lies on a small inlier of carboniferous limestone. Quarrying for limestone goes back to Roman times but in more recent times, in 1791, Benjamin Outram and Samuel Beresford bought the land here for a quarry to supply limestone for their ironworks in Butterley. It became known as Hilt's Quarry and it replaced the old Warner Quarry. The Butterley gangroad was built in 1793 to link the quarry with the Cromford Canal at Bullbridge and was one of the first railways in the East Midlands (and maybe even in the world!) to successfully operate with steam locomotives. The gangroad descending approximately 300 feet in approximately one mile and was at first worked by gravity. A brakeman would "spragg" (or apply a simple brake to) the wheels of the wagons, which were returned to the summit by horses.
The history doesn’t stop there. In 1812 the incline was the scene of a remarkable experiment when William Brunton, an engineer for the company, produced his steam horse locomotive. In 1840 George Stephenson leased the quarry and built limekilns at Bullbridge to provided lime to burn with coal slack.
The quarry in the 1900s:
Hilt's Quarry closed in 1933. For 38 years, Rolls-Royce used it for dumping low-level radioactive waste including enriched uranium, cobalt-60 and carbon-14. Following a campaign by villagers in Crich the dumping ceased in 2002. In 2004 the Environment Agency banned further dumping, and Rolls-Royce were ordered to restore and landscape the site. The quarry was last used by Bardon Aggregates who closed it in 2010 after finding the limestone was contaminated with a substance that turned it a funny colour. It never reopened after that and has since been abandoned.
2. The Explore
Very relaxed explore here. Access is very easy and there’s no security as such. Just the odd glance from tourists at the adjacent Crich Tram Museum that lies parallel to the site. The place has been done to death over the years and the machines are now trashed and rusty. Well worth an hour of your time as you can’t beat a bit of heavyweight industrial mining porn, can you?
3. The Pictures
On the way in:
The cliff to the north-east of the quarry:
Trashed admin offices:
On to the main attraction:
And up onto the machinery:
Heavy metal:
On to Control post No.18 (must have missed the other 17):
Everything’s trashed in here now:
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