My first report on here, I'm afraid the pictures are a bit hit or miss. I really need to sort out some decent lighting.
History
Brookman's Quarry in Tormarton is an underground one, it is pencilled on a map of the Manor of Tormarton dated 1763.
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.
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.
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 Visit
Having checked out the area in advance, I had decided to park near St. Mary Magdalene's Church in Tormarton village and walk the fifteen to twenty minutes it would take to reach the copse where the quarry is located.
There have been some changes to the entrance since Oort's trip report in August.
On the side of the inclined roadway there is another entrance leading to a small passage.
Then it's just a small squeeze
and you find yourself on the other side of the door.
A bunch of standard mine/quarry shots.
History
Brookman's Quarry in Tormarton is an underground one, it is pencilled on a map of the Manor of Tormarton dated 1763.
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.
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.
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 Visit
Having checked out the area in advance, I had decided to park near St. Mary Magdalene's Church in Tormarton village and walk the fifteen to twenty minutes it would take to reach the copse where the quarry is located.
There have been some changes to the entrance since Oort's trip report in August.
On the side of the inclined roadway there is another entrance leading to a small passage.
Then it's just a small squeeze
and you find yourself on the other side of the door.
A bunch of standard mine/quarry shots.
