Question about Beezley Quarry near Ingleton

Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Does anybody know between what dates the quarry was actively worked - and especially when it was last worked? (The reason is there's some interesting geological features in there, revealed by the quarrying, and it would be useful to know how long they have been exposed to weathering.)

This is the quarry which has Beezley Quarry Cave at the bottom (rather than any of the other smaller quarried areas nearby).

Thanks.
 
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Inferus

New member
Not sure if you already know this but just in case, not exact dates but vague ideas..

In the Falls and Caves of Ingleton 1947 edition, the foreword mentions a new cave found by quarrying in Ingleton Quarry (which would no doubt be Beezley Quarry, also referred to as Storrs Quarry). I've got a sneaky suspicion this is a later edition, I may be confused but think an earlier edition possibly does not mention the cave? So it would seem the quarry was still active at that point.
By the mid 70s it was being used as a dumping ground which resulted in the loss of bits of caves. Sorry it's not more specific.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Thanks - that's a useful part of the jigsaw.

Looking at various of David Johnson's publications it seems that quarrying on a small scale on Storrs Common has been going on for a very long time and serious quarrying (on a proper industrial scale) dates back to very roughly the early to mid 1800s. But so far I've been unable to find the exact date when quarrying stopped. (From the above post this must have been some time after the war but before the 1970s, so we've narrowed it down to a 20 year period already.)
 
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Andy C

New member
From the Ordnance Survey maps that I can access on Digimap:

1:2500 published 1909 - only the disused lime kilns at Beezley Grange and Rock cottage are marked
1:10560 published 1956 - quarry face is marked, presumably active at that time
1:2500 published 1973 - quarry marked as disused

this corroborates your existing information, but note that there may have been a slight delay between survey and map publication
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Thanks for that further information - yes, we're getting there. It may be worth my consulting David Johnson directly; if anyone will know I'm sure he will. If I get the answer before anyone on here does, I'll post the information, just for the record.
 
JAA

JAA

Active member
If you know the official name that the quarry traded as could google tell you when the company was wound up? Perhaps?
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Yep - its proper name is apparently "Storrs Quarry" (as opposed to the "Beezley Quarry" often used by cavers). But I'm now in contact with someone who may be able to tell us exactly when the particular bench in question was quarried. So fingers crossed . . .
 
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mikem

Well-known member
Dec 1973 Proceeding of Yorkshire Geological Society includes a visit to Storrs Quarry:
Brief stops were made at the lamprophyre dykes, one below Snow Falls (703743) and the other close to Storrs Common (700758). The North Craven Fault was noted at the north end of Storrs Common and the last stop of the day was in Storrs Quarry opposite Meal Bank Quarry (700736). The existence of an unconformity below the Meal Bank Coal was demonstrated. Two beds of limestone amounting to about ten metres in thickness are cut out by the unconformity which separates thin ..
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& https://www.brcc.org.uk/downloads/BRPC-Journal.pdf

Mike
 
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Inferus

New member
I remembered a little known ebook, browsed through it and found the words:
"As one of many potholers who camped in Ingleton over the weekend in the late fifties, I know that Beezley Quarry was not in operation at that time, because we used to sleep in Steam House Mansions, the huge metal buildings which were used to crush rock. The buildings were demolished in the sixties."
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Thanks Inferus. That fits with a message I just received telling me that the quarrying of the face in question probably ceased around 1938.
 
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