Quarries of the Mendip Hills

Western extension of Whatley Quarry.

Dulcote Quarry.

The Mendip Hills are the most southerly Carboniferous Limestone Upland in Britain and are found in northern Somerset.

They are composed of three major anticlinal structures, each with a core of older Devonian sandstone and Silurian volcanic rocks. The latter are quarried for use in road construction and as a concrete aggregate.

In recent centuries the hills, like the Cotswolds to the north, have been quarried for stone to build the cities of Bath and Bristol, as well as smaller towns in Somerset. The quarries are major suppliers of road stone to southern England, between them producing around twelve million tonnes a year, employing over two thousand people with an annual turnover of £150m.^[1]

There are two main rock types on the Mendips: the Devonian Sandstones visible around Black Down and Downhead and the Carboniferous Limestones, which dominate the hills and surround the older rock formations.^[2] An outcrop of basalt is also quarried at Moon's Hill.

A large proportion of the stone (about 5 million tonnes per year) is moved by rail company Mendip Rail. As transportation constitutes a significant proportion of the cost of supplying stone, the Mendips, along with Leicestershire, are important as the nearest sources of hard stone for London and the South East.

Active quarries

Disused quarries

Cliff Quarry, Compton Martin.

Fairy Cave Quarry.

• Barnclose Quarry
• Cliff Quarry, Compton Martin
• Cloford Quarry — geological Site of Special Scientific Interest
• Cloud Quarry
• Cook's Wood Quarry — geological Site of Special Scientific Interest
• Draycott Quarry
• Emborough Quarries — geological Site of Special Scientific Interest
• Fairy Cave Quarry
• Hobbs Quarry — geological Site of Special Scientific Interest
• Holwell Quarries — geological Site of Special Scientific Interest
• Shipham Quarry
• Underwood Quarry (near Wells)
• Viaduct Quarry — geological Site of Special Scientific Interest
• Westbury Quarry
• Windsor Hill Quarry — geological Site of Special Scientific Interest

References