Aislaby Quarry is a

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

quarry in the village of Aislaby, near to

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. The quarry produces sandstone which has been exported through Whitby to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

History

The quarry workings at Aislaby are west of Whitby, and were known to have been in existence by the 11th century, as the majority of Whitby Abbey was constructed of stone quarried from the area. The West and East Piers at Whitby were faced with blocks of Aislaby stone. Besides being used for building purposes, some of the stone from Aislaby was used in decorative work such as crosses used in churches. Examples of this stone worked decoratively have been found in churches the area including

Whitby Abbey Whitby Abbey was a 7th-century Christian monastery that later became a Benedictine abbey. The abbey church was situated overlooking the North Sea on the East Cliff above Whitby in North Yorkshire, England, a centre of the medieval Northumbrian ...

Lythe Lythe is a small village and large civil parish, in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England, situated near Whitby within the North York Moors National Park. The name of the village derives from Old Norse and means hill or slope ...

, Church of St Mary, Lastingham, and

Hovingham Hovingham is a large village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is on the edge of the Howardian Hills and about south of Kirkbymoorside. History The name 'Hovingham' is first attested in the Domesday Boo ...

. The

Easby Cross The Easby Cross is an Anglo-Saxon sandstone standing cross from 800–820, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. It originally came from Easby near Richmond in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, where a plaster replica i ...

, which dates to the early 9th century, has been matched to the same "medium-grained deltaic sandstone traditionally produced in the Aislaby quarries of Eskdale, near Whitby". It is theorised that pack horses took sections of the stone west from Aislaby to the valley of the

River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley through which it flows. Th ...

, but it is unknown who paid for the cross. In May 2002, the quarry was re-opened to allow new stone to be quarried to provide repairs for structures which used Aislaby Stone in the first place, such as the east pier at Scarborough. It was again reopened in the 2010s, specifically to supply stone for a renovation programme on the East and West Piers at Whitby. The quarry was registered in 2020 as Eskdale stone, working sandstone from the Saltwick and Cloughton formations of Jurassic sandstone.

Notable structures

The structures listed below were built with stone quarried at Aislaby (not all structures are entirely of Aislaby stone); *Admiralty Pier,

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

* The new Library, Cambridge University *Church of St Margaret, Aislaby *

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

*Grinkle Park, Easington * Guisborough Priory *

Houghton Hall Houghton Hall ( ) is a country house in the parish of Houghton in Norfolk, England. It is the residence of David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. It was commissioned by the ''de facto'' first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walp ...

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

, the stone was transported to King's Lynn from Whitby by sea *

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

* Ramsgate Pier * St Gregory's Minster, Kirkdale (assumed) * Scarborough North Pier *Strand Bridge (original Waterloo Bridge) *

* Whitby East Pier * Whitby West Pier * Whitby Town Hall

References

Sources

* * *{{cite report, last=Powell, first=John, title=Strategic Stone Study; a Building Stone Atlas of North Yorkshire East and York , url=https://www2.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/download/EHCountyAtlases/North_Yorkshire_East_York_Building_Stone_Atlas.pdf, format= PDF, date=December 2017, website=bgs.ac.uk, access-date=30 November 2021 Quarries in North Yorkshire Whitby