Ribblehead Quarry is a former limestone quarry next to railway station in the

Yorkshire Dales National Park The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England covering most of the Yorkshire Dales. Most of the park is in North Yorkshire, with a sizeable area in Westmorland (Cumbria) and a small part in Lancashire. The park was designa ...

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. It had a connection to the

Settle–Carlisle line The Settle–Carlisle line (also known as the ''Settle and Carlisle'' (S&C)) is a main railway line in northern England. The route, which crosses the remote, scenic regions of the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines, runs between Settle J ...

, with most of its products being sent out via the railway.

History

The quarry was in existence by the end of the 19th century, but the Craven Lime Company who owned it, allowed quarrying operations to lapse around 1907. Despite being located near to railway station, the quarry was not located near to a population centre, and getting workers to travel to the quarry was difficult. Originally, the stone won from the quarry was used in building the adjacent railway line, but in the early twentieth century, the stone was used in North East England for iron and steel production, along with being an additive in toothpaste and household cleaners. In 1943, the quarry was reopened to operations, producing agricultural limestone. A north connected siding was provided for the quarrying operations run by H. Austin in 1945, which later (in 1974) involved the removal of the down platform on the railway line (for trains northwards serving Carlisle). In 1973, Amey Roadstone Company (ARC) bought the quarry to replace quarrying operations at its Middlebarrow Quarry near to Silverdale (now

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

) which was nearing the end of its quarrying licence. Between 1976 and 1986, the quarry produced of railway ballast every year. This was sent out via rail over the Settle & Carlisle Line. In an effort to combat the effects of acid rain caused by pollution, limestone would have been added to power station gas-flues, absorbing the sulphur. This early initiative in the 1980s would have seen the quarry producing up to of limestone per year. 158903 at Ribblehead

In 1998, ARC announced it would cease quarrying completely at the site, leaving behind possible reserves of of limestone and limestone pavement. In 2000, the former Ribblehead Quarry site became part of the Ingleborough National Nature Reserve. The company that owned the quarry (

Hanson Hanson or Hansson may refer to: People * Hanson (surname) * Hansson (surname) * Hanson (wrestler), ringname of an American professional wrestler Musical groups * Hanson (band), an American pop rock band * Hanson (UK band), an English rock ...

) turned the site over to

English Nature English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006. It was a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Environmen ...

in October 2000, in the expectation that it would reach peak re-wilding status by 2040. A stone bench known as the ''Geology Seat'' has been constructed inside the quarry, which is on a path linking

Ribblehead Ribblehead is the area of moorland at the head of the River Ribble in the area known as Ribblesdale, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, England. Ribblehead is most notable for Ribblehead railway station and Ribblehead Viaduct on the Sett ...

with Selside. Visitors are encouraged to sit down to listen to an audio recording describing the geology, wildlife and history of the area. The siding for the quarry has since been re-used to forward timber out from a culling programme on Cam Fell, and also again to forward stone, this time quarried from nearby Ingleton, but transported in by road before rail transport.

Nature reserve

The quarry bottom is host to what has been described as the "nationally scarce" birds eye primrose. Birds that have been observed at the site include oystercatcher, raven, redshank, and ringed plover.

References

External links

The quarry located at Gridref SD767788Wildlife report from 2016Inglebrough SSSI map
{{Quarries in North Yorkshire Craven District Quarries in North Yorkshire Ribblesdale