Dulcote Quarry is a disused

limestone 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 whe ...

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...

at Dulcote, near

Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...

on the

Mendip Hills The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. The quarry measures around from West to East and around from North to South, with an area of , which is surrounded by of woodland. The site has been used for quarrying since the mid-19th century. The

Foster Yeoman Foster Yeoman Limited, based near Frome, Somerset, England, was one of Europe's largest independent quarrying and asphalt companies. It was sold to Aggregate Industries in 2006. History The company was founded by Foster Yeoman, from Hartlepool, ...

Company was founded at Dulcote, in 1923, and later became part of

Aggregate Industries Aggregate Industries, a member of the Holcim Group, is a company based in the United Kingdom with headquarters at Bardon Hill, Coalville, Leicestershire. Aggregate Industries manufactures and supplies a range of heavy building materials, primari ...

. The site achieved an output of approximately 0.25M tonnes per year of

Carboniferous Limestone Carboniferous Limestone is a collective term for the succession of limestones occurring widely throughout Great Britain and Ireland that were deposited during the Dinantian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period. These rocks formed between 363 and ...

, for general purpose construction aggregates. Much of the stone was moved on the

Cheddar Valley Line The Cheddar Valley line was a railway line in Somerset, England, running between Yatton and Witham. It was opened in parts: the first section connecting Shepton Mallet to Witham, later extended to Wells, was built by the East Somerset Railway fr ...

(a branch line of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

) by an independent company which became known as

Mendip Rail Mendip Rail Ltd is an independent freight operating railway company in Great Britain. It is a joint venture composed of the rail-operation divisions of Aggregate Industries (formerly Foster Yeoman) and Hanson Aggregates (previously ARC). The c ...

. A

Geodiversity Geodiversity is the variety of earth materials, forms and processes that constitute and shape the Earth, either the whole or a specific part of it.Zwolinski, Zb. 2004. ''Geodiversity'', in: ''Encyclopedia of Geomorphology'', A.Goudie (ed.), Routle ...

audit of the site was carried out in 2004, which highlighted the limestone strata and fossils identified. These include Carboniferous Limestone overlain by

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

Mercia Mudstones and Sandstones with geodes, which were formed by siliceous mineral replacement. In 2007 the quarry was bought by the Kilbride group, a subsidiary of Kilmartin Holdings which itself became part of

Hansteen Holdings Hansteen Holdings plc is a European industrial REIT that invests in properties with high yields, low financing costs and opportunity for value improvement across the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and the UK. It is listed on the London Stock ...

. When the parent company went into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...

the part owning Dulcote survived and put the worked-out quarry site up for commercial redevelopment with outline planning permission for a price of £1.5 million. In 2016 the site was bought for development as a food production site for

Charlie Bigham's Charlie Bigham's is a British brand of fresh ready meals founded by Charlie Bigham. History Charlie Bigham, a former management consultant from London, started the business in 1996. The delicatessens of Selfridges and Harvey Nichols, and lat ...

, which opened in 2017. In March 2022, a multi-user path (part of the Strawberry Line) connecting the end of the Wells-Dulcote railway path at Dulcote underpass to the quarry entrance was officially opened.

References

External links

Mineral data for this quarry from mindat.org

References

External links

See also