Purbeck Quarries. OUGS Wessex. March14 2015 Safety. Hard hats are required if you go underground in the quarries and perhaps in the Square & Compass pub – low ceilings and beams! At Winspit the quarry edge is unprotected and there is an immediate vertical drop of about 40 feet to the sea. Similarly if you use the Coast Path to overlook the quarry there is a drop to the quarry floor. Keep away from edges. The quarry faces are stable.
Morning
Landers Quarry. Trev Haysom, Owner
Trev will show us around a modern working Purbeck quarry. There will be opportunity to see how the stone is quarried and worked. Landers Quarry is notable as a source of Purbeck Marble. ------
Afternoon WORTH MATRAVERS AND WINSPIT. Bob Alderman. OUGS Wessex
Worth Matravers, along with Langton Matravers is at the centre of the Purbeck stone industry. At Worth the only active quarry is St Aldhelms Quarry (SY 965 762), behind the Aldhelm’s Head. There are several working quarries between Worth and Langton Matravers.
About Worth Matravers. The village of Worth Matravers is notable as an essay in Purbeck stone buildings. The nature of the stone means that if readily forms blocks and in some beds it splits to form thin roofing tiles. Only rarely does it provide beds that allow significant carving. You will note there are few mullion windows. There is a 16th century house in Corfe Castle with Purbeck stone mullions but it is a rare example. Most of the stone, exported from Swanage, was in the form of paving slabs. The rise of the Purbeck Stone industry probably dates from the 12th century when the then Bishop of Winchester used it for his Palace. Being noted as a man of education and refined taste the nobility followed him in using the stone.
The pub in Worth, “The Square and Compass” (SY 974 775), named for the mason’s tools, has been serving ale for well over 300 years and has been in the ownership of the same family for over 100 years! Their beer is always good and the meat or cheese pasties are to be recommended. In earlier days the name may have been the “Hammers”. Like a lot of the pubs on Purbeck they used to accept stone in payment for beer and sometimes other goods, notably in hard times when the market for stone was low. A 24 x 30 inch paving slab was worth a pint in about 1900. Some of the pubs were run by quarrymen so the exchange seems logical. This has given rise to stories of the Purbeck Penny, a stone coin; romanticised to be an actual circular stone coin. In reality it must have been the exchange of stone for goods. The pub has a small museum with an eclectic collection of fossils and archaeology.
During the Second World War Worth was at the centre of the development of radar. Just to the west of the village, now a Field Study Centre was one of the aerials of the “Chain Home” early warning radar. The large wooden structure outside the Square and Compass is the remains of this. There were also arrays associated with the development of “GEE” and “Oboe” the radio locating systems. The development laboratory was in a country house on Durlston Head. Shortly after British Commandos raided a German radar installation on the coast of France the potential vulnerability of this establishment was realised and all was hastily removed to Malvern, later to become the Royal Radar Establishment..
On to Winspit. The walk to Winspit takes about half an hour. Leave the “Square and Compass” (reluctantly) and walk down the hill. Keep the pond on your right. There is a terrace of small cottages, “London Row”, keep these to your right and you will find the footpath at the end of the road slightly to your left. Follow the path down the valley.
Across the valley and ahead you will note medieval strip lynchets. This is evidence of long occupation.
As you reach the end of the footpath the quarrying becomes obvious. The stone that was taken from the cliffs was from the Portland beds. The quarry was last worked during the Second World War. The spoil and unwanted stone from earlier quarrying was removed for hard-core; much going to build airfields. The removal of the spoil has left the area unusually “clean” leaving the working faces well exposed.
In more recent times the quarries have hosted TV productions. A detective mystery found a body at the bottom of a cliff. An episode of Dr Who with Tom Baker was filmed here too. Apparently the Tardis left some of its blue paint on the stones!
There are remains of stone working machinery. The derelict buildings once housed a forge, on the left, and circular and frame saws. The remains of the latter can be easily made out. The raised plinth with bolt heads held the rotating parts, flywheels and cranks to drive the saw. The larger rectangular pattern of bolts is the bed of the saw.
Remains of frame stone saw.
Rotating parts here.
Saw bed here.
This is a present day frame saw in St Aldhelms Quarry. The frame runs on sliding plates; a pair can be seen to the right on the concrete pillars. One or more blades reciprocate across the stone and gradually ratchet down cutting through the stone. Out of sight to the left there is an electric motor with a belt drive to a flywheel that has the crank to drive the frame.
Next to this there is a lowered area. A stone crusher was installed here. In the quarry floor there is a triangle of large bolt heads. A Scotch derrick was fixed here to lift the stone onto the saw bench and possibly into the crusher.
A Scotch Derrick in St Aldhelms Quarry. Possibly the last remaining true example in Purbeck or indeed Dorset. The one at the top of the hill on Portland is a replica cobbled up from old parts and telegraph poles.
Most of the quarry floor represents 19th century working, the lowered parts occurred in the 20th century. The stone that was worked in the 19th century left the quarry by sea. It was lowered over the cliff edge by gibbet cranes. Holes in the rock can be found where the foot of the vertical post of the crane was seated. Wagons on the sea worn rock ledge below then carried the stone to waiting boats. A track-way can be made out on the ledge when the tide is out. (A recent publication on the Dorset coast erroneously says that sledges wore the track. Wheeled wagons were used; friction is too great to use a sledge loaded with a couple of tons of stone.) Gibbet cranes again lifted the stone into the boats. The locating holes for these can be found on the ledge. The cliff quarries can be found all along the coast eastwards to Durlston Head.
Trackway left by wagons loading boats.
Notable here are the caves that have been created by the removal of the stone. They are worth a look round but in some recent human occupation can be a little nauseous! Few fossils can be found. There is an ammonite just showing above the entrance to the larger cave. Examine the strata above the caves and the ridge to their right. What appear to be tree rings are fracture marks across the face of the stone. Only one stratum seems to display this feature.
Fracture marks
Ammonite?
If you walk around the inlet to the eastern side of the inlet there is further quarrying. Two of the cave quarries are barred to preserve roosting bats. Further along on the cliff edge there are marks where wedges were inserted to lever a block of stone away. Unusually they remain, as it seems the stone fractured beyond them.
Wild Life. In the summer look around on the rock faces that are in full sun. Sand lizards are common here. I have seen five at once. They are fast moving so it’s the flicker of movement that catches the eye. As they are territorial they often have border disputes with each other! Potentially slow worms and adders are around. On the hill above pairs of skylarks are common. Around the corner to the west of St Aldhelm’s Head, overlooking Chapman’s Pool there are nesting peregrine falcons, part of an increasing population along the coast.
To conclude the visit you may either return by the footpath you came down from Worth or as you leave the quarry turn to the right and ascend the coast path steps, somewhat hidden in the bushes. At the top of the steps take the gate through the fence and climb the steep hill towards the remains of a path signpost – very prominent. From the top an overview of Winspit may be had. It is worth a short detour to the east to get views of the cliff workings over Dancing Ledge (SY 996 769) and to Anvil Point/Durlston Head (SZ 029 769). The massif of St Aldhelm’s Head unfortunately restricts the views to the west. From the post the path more or less follows the contour back to Worth. See you in the pub, mine’s a pint! Bob Alderman.
Special thanks to Trev Haysom, St Aldhelm’s Quarry for helping me fill in the history and some of the industrial archaeology.