Combe Down
Combe Down is a village on the outskirts of Bath, England in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Somerset.
Combe Down village consists predominantly of 18th and 19th century Bath stone-built villa ...
and
Bathampton
Bathampton () is a village and civil parish east of Bath, England on the south bank of the River Avon. The parish has a population of 1,603.
The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the village and a toll bridge links Bathampton to Bathea ...
Down Quarries () make up a 6.22 hectare (15.37 acre)
Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in
Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority district in England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. It is part of the Cer ...
, England, important for its bat population. The disused quarries date from the 17th and 18th centuries and were the source of
Bath stone for the city of
Bath and elsewhere in the UK. A five-year project to stabilise the quarry workings was largely completed by November 2009.
Geology
Combe Down forms a plateau capped by Great
Oolite limestones
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when t ...
between the valley of the
River Avon and Horsecombe Vale. The geology of the region is dominated by rocks of
Middle and
Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...
ages. The Great Oolite is the uppermost
lithology, underlain by the clays of the
Fuller's Earth
Fuller's earth is any clay material that has the capability to decolorize oil or other liquids without the use of harsh chemical treatment. Fuller's earth typically consists of palygorskite (attapulgite) or bentonite.
Modern uses of fuller's ea ...
Formation, which in turn is underlain by limestones of the Inferior Oolite and the Midford Sands of the
Lias
Lias may refer to:
Geology
* Lias Formation, a geologic formation in France
*Lias Group, a lithostratigraphic unit in western Europe
* Early Jurassic, an epoch
People
* Godfrey Lias, British author
* Mohd Shamsudin Lias (born 1953), Malaysian ...
. The Great and Inferior Oolite formations provide effective
aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...
s (rock in which water can be stored and pass through) for public and private water supplies.
History
The Great Oolite stone, used for building purposes, formed over 146 million years ago when the area was underneath a deep tropical sea on which ooliths were deposited. The ooliths bonded together to form the distinctive rock known as oolitic limestone or locally as
Bath stone. The
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
found that it was easily worked and used it for important fortifications. During the 17th century, small quarries were opened, with major quarries being developed in the 18th century to produce the stone used for many of the buildings in
Bath and elsewhere in the UK, including
Buckingham Palace. Stone was extracted by the "room and pillar" method, by which chambers were mined, leaving pillars of stone to support the roof.
These mines were once owned by Postmaster General
Ralph Allen
Ralph Allen (1693 – 29 June 1764) was an entrepreneur and philanthropist, who was notable for his reforms to the British postal system.
Allen was born in Cornwall but moved to Bath to work in the post office, becoming the postmaster at ...
(1694–1764).
The mines contain a range of features including well preserved
tramways, cart-roads and crane bases. The walls and pillars are studded with
pick and tool marks and show evidence of the use of huge stone saws, all of which bear testimony to the variety of techniques used to extract the stone over their three hundred-year history.
No mine abandonment plans – either of the tunnels or the caverns, known as voids – were made prior to the 1872 Mining Act.
During 1989 a utilities contractor unexpectedly broke through into part of the mine complex whilst excavating a trench, which resulted in Bath City Council commissioning studies to survey the condition of the mines. It was clear that the mines were in very unstable condition, and some experts considered them to be the largest, shallowest and most unstable of their kind in Europe.
Mine and environmental survey
An underground survey of the Firs and Byfield mine areas was carried out in 1994, commissioned by Bath City Council. It was found that approximately 80% of the mines had less than 6 m cover, reducing to 2 m in some places. Irregular mining and robbing stone from supporting pillars had left the mines unstable.
An
Environmental Impact Assessment was completed for the stabilisation scheme and submitted to the Local Planning Authority in December 2002. This highlighted that the mine is within the
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
of the City of Bath; adjacent to the
Cotswold
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jura ...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...
(AONB); within a
conservation area, containing a number of
listed buildings
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
; a
Site of Special Scientific Interest; a candidate
Special Area of Conservation
A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...
; of international importance for
Greater and
Lesser Horseshoe bats; and of international geological importance, partly due to the work of
William Smith.
During the access and emergency works,
Oxford Archaeology
Oxford Archaeology (OA, trading name of Oxford Archaeology Limited) is one of the largest and longest-established independent archaeology and heritage practices in Europe, operating from three permanent offices in Oxford, Lancaster and Cambridge, ...
produced large scale plans of visible areas and substantial photography was carried out as the modern roadways allowed access. There were also trials of video photography and laser scanning, so that a substantial record was produced of some 20% of the known workings.
The mine also lies above a Grade 1
aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...
from which water for public and private use is extracted via the springs that issue at the base of these units, in particular at the
Prior Park, Whittaker and Tucking Mill springs.
Mine stabilisation project
In March 1999, the then
Department of Environment, Transport and Regions (DETR) announced a Land Stabilisation Programme, based on the Derelict Land Act 1982. This was designed to "deal with abandoned non-coal mine workings which are likely to collapse and threaten life and property". A
Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority district in England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. It is part of the Cer ...
Council outline bid for a two-phase stabilisation project was accepted in August 1999, by
English Partnerships
English Partnerships (EP) was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agencies on a regional level. On 1 December 2008 its powers passed to a successor ...
who administered the programme for the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
A parliamentary
Statutory Instrument (2002 No. 2053) was needed before the work could be undertaken.
Approximately 760 properties were included within the planning application boundary; estimates were that ca. 1660 people lived within this area, which also included a
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
, a nursery and three churches.
Foamed concrete was selected for the large-scale infilling of the old mine works: the single largest application of foamed concrete on a project in the UK. The work was largely complete by November 2009, by which time approximately 600,000 cubic metres of foamed concrete had been used to fill 25 hectares of very shallow limestone mine, making it the largest project of its kind in the world.
Biological interest
![Grosse Hufeisennase-drawing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Grosse_Hufeisennase-drawing.jpg)
The site was notified as a
Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1991, for its importance as a hibernation site for several species of bat, including
Greater and
Lesser Horseshoe. Since 2005 it has formed part of the
Bath and Bradford-on-Avon Bats Special Area of Conservation
A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...
.
References
External links
Photographs of the inside of the mine
{{SSSIs Avon biological
Buildings and structures in Bath, Somerset
History of Bath, Somerset
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Avon
Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1991
Underground mines in England
Mines in Somerset
Combe Down