A great little explore with @tucker, @urban junky & @tommo. Actually, was much larger than we were expecting.
A littlle history from the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group http://www.sgmrg.co.uk/brookmans
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.
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.
On with the pictures.
The main shaft to the surface...
...now seemingly used as a dumping ground for tyres.
The remains of the loading crane...
Various shots from around the mine...
I couldn't quite tell whether these were deads or stone awaiting removal or preparation...
Wagon ruts...
I was searching for hoof imprints (like in Swan) but couldn't find any.
The 1936 trial shaft...
Carved stones...
One of the walls...
Finally...
All in all, a great place. Be careful with access, park considerately and use your legs instead of drawing attention to yourselves. Look at an OS map !
A littlle history from the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group http://www.sgmrg.co.uk/brookmans
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.
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.
On with the pictures.
The main shaft to the surface...
...now seemingly used as a dumping ground for tyres.
The remains of the loading crane...
Various shots from around the mine...
I couldn't quite tell whether these were deads or stone awaiting removal or preparation...
Wagon ruts...
I was searching for hoof imprints (like in Swan) but couldn't find any.
The 1936 trial shaft...
Carved stones...
One of the walls...
Finally...
All in all, a great place. Be careful with access, park considerately and use your legs instead of drawing attention to yourselves. Look at an OS map !
