Brookmans Quarry
History
History
In South Gloucestershire the Bath Stone beds are at shallow depth and were mainly worked on the Badminton Estate in Tormarton and Old Sodbury parishes to supply a very local market.
The earliest known reference to quarrying in Tormarton is 4th March 1793 when James Gingell was killed "in consequence of a certain quantity of Earth & Rubbish falling upon his Body as he was raising Stone in a certain Quarry in the Parish of Tormarton".
Brookman's Quarry in Tormarton is an underground one, it is pencilled on a map of the Manor of Tormarton dated 1763, and is thus of later date. Thomas Brookman a farmer worked it up to 1863, from 1864 it appears to have been worked by the Badminton Estate, digging continued up to 1916 when the quarry closed. In the summer of 1936 the Bath & Portland Stone Firms Ltd sunk a shaft in the floor of the quarry in order to test the nature of the stone at a greater depth, the Badminton Estate paid £25 towards the cost. The work was done by Owen Bishop, a well known Corsham ganger. The gang included Ted Gibbons of Gastard who died in the early 1990s, he was the last man to work underground at Tormarton.
Tormarton stone was used for the restoration of Acton Turville Church in 1853, for the new font and the pillars and arches which separate the Aisles from the Nave and the corbels supporting the roof. A new font was supplied to West Littleton church in 1856.
The quarry is basically an inclined roadway type where the hauling road descends from the surface down to the floor of the quarry where the head of stone was undermined by pillar and stall workings. The freestone is wedge bedded i.e. the strata is inclined, unique features include the remains of a very early loading crane and mixed gauge wagon ruts. The square 1936 trial shaft is still there.
The Visit
Visited with @TallRich and a non member, Another gorgeous day for an explore which was going to be somewhere very different but parking issues scuppered that so we checked out Brookmans instead. Not the biggest mine in the world but certainly worth wondering around for a hour or two, the overall impression that you get from this place is how clean it is! No water or flooded bits, no mud, very little grafitti, very few loose deads; most have been piled up to create some really nice walls. The tracks and sleepers went a long time ago but you can quite clearly see where they once lived. Generally quite spacious and in rather good nick as well considering, few dodgy bits of ceiling but thats all.
Not much to see in the way of features unless you count tons of old cars tyres but a rather charming way to spend an afternoon if that's your cup of tea.
The Pics
You can just make out the shaft right at the back of the picture
Remains of an old pulley or crane.
Rounded walling & shaft to your right
The obligatory old miners shoe
The pit shaft
There's always one somewhere.
You can just make out the shaft right at the back of the picture
Remains of an old pulley or crane.
Rounded walling & shaft to your right
The obligatory old miners shoe
The pit shaft
There's always one somewhere.
Thanks for looking
thanks for posting it!
