A small working that is alongside the B4425 between the villages of Barnsley and Bibury. Never been reported in here and I guess that’s because its tiny, surrounded by huge big green fence and access is via a 12-15ft deep shaft that requires a little bit of ropework.
HISTORY
Very little info I can find on the interweb, save to say that to the south of the road is another quarry, called Quarry Hill Quarry, that is said to have a 70ft shaft access. I didn’t look at this one because, as you can tell from the photos below, I did this after my bedtime and was getting tired.
The quarries described above were in existence in some form or the other by the early 18th century. A mason Richard Norris, not the first of his family to follow that trade at Barnsley, took a lease of one of the quarries in 1725. One was being worked for stone tiles in 1757. In the 1770s they were said to have been producing stone almost equal in quality to Bath Stone. The Poole family followed the trade at Barnsley between the 1830s and the First World War.
(Source for the above: A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 7. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981.)
The quarries were still around in 1870-72 for in those years John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Barnsley like this:
BARNSLEY, a parish in Cirencester district, Gloucester; near the river Colne, 4 miles NE of Cirencester r. station. It has a post office under Cirencester. Acres, 2,090. Real property, £1,852. Pop., 327. Houses, 64. The chief property belongs to Sir W. Musgrave, Bart. The manor belonged formerly to the Perrots and the Bourchiers; and the old mansion of the latter still stands. Barnsley Park, the seat of the present proprietor, is extensive; and the mansion is in the Italian style, and contains some frescoes and antiques. Freestone is quarried. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £320.* Patron, Sir W. Musgrave, Bart. The church is transition Norman, and was recently restored. Charities, £15.
THE VISIT
The quarry is on the side of a surprisingly busy B road and surrounded by a difficult to climb green fence. After taking these recce photos, I decided a night-time visit was best for here.
I had an hour to kill and converted an old retired climbing rope into a 11-runged ladder (if anyone wants to copy, don’t make the rungs so far apart as I did and the instructions are here).
Returning late at night, the rope ladder seen in-situ. It was a bit scary stepping onto it for the first time, but in the end we had no drama. Following the theme of “safety is paramount”, I had a second rope running down alongside it – the logic being something to grab onto if the ladder failed.
From the bottom of the shaft, the obvious passage leads to the west and is initially high with neat stacks of deads
But the passage soon becomes a low stoop. A couple of junctions lead to dead-end workings. Eventually the main passage circles back round to the main shaft. I guess about 500m of passageway down there.
Very little graffiti down here, although scorch marks can be seen on the ceilings dating from 1839.
“D. Bick surveyed this mine 1st March 1970”
And then it was time to get out
Finally Mrs BB was very concerned to hear of people recently getting lost in a famous Wiltshire mine and suing the local pub for compensation. So again in the theme of “safety is paramount” and to protect the local pub from financial ruin, here’s her survey. Be safe people.
HISTORY
Very little info I can find on the interweb, save to say that to the south of the road is another quarry, called Quarry Hill Quarry, that is said to have a 70ft shaft access. I didn’t look at this one because, as you can tell from the photos below, I did this after my bedtime and was getting tired.
The quarries described above were in existence in some form or the other by the early 18th century. A mason Richard Norris, not the first of his family to follow that trade at Barnsley, took a lease of one of the quarries in 1725. One was being worked for stone tiles in 1757. In the 1770s they were said to have been producing stone almost equal in quality to Bath Stone. The Poole family followed the trade at Barnsley between the 1830s and the First World War.
(Source for the above: A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 7. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981.)
The quarries were still around in 1870-72 for in those years John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Barnsley like this:
BARNSLEY, a parish in Cirencester district, Gloucester; near the river Colne, 4 miles NE of Cirencester r. station. It has a post office under Cirencester. Acres, 2,090. Real property, £1,852. Pop., 327. Houses, 64. The chief property belongs to Sir W. Musgrave, Bart. The manor belonged formerly to the Perrots and the Bourchiers; and the old mansion of the latter still stands. Barnsley Park, the seat of the present proprietor, is extensive; and the mansion is in the Italian style, and contains some frescoes and antiques. Freestone is quarried. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £320.* Patron, Sir W. Musgrave, Bart. The church is transition Norman, and was recently restored. Charities, £15.
THE VISIT
The quarry is on the side of a surprisingly busy B road and surrounded by a difficult to climb green fence. After taking these recce photos, I decided a night-time visit was best for here.
I had an hour to kill and converted an old retired climbing rope into a 11-runged ladder (if anyone wants to copy, don’t make the rungs so far apart as I did and the instructions are here).
Returning late at night, the rope ladder seen in-situ. It was a bit scary stepping onto it for the first time, but in the end we had no drama. Following the theme of “safety is paramount”, I had a second rope running down alongside it – the logic being something to grab onto if the ladder failed.
From the bottom of the shaft, the obvious passage leads to the west and is initially high with neat stacks of deads
But the passage soon becomes a low stoop. A couple of junctions lead to dead-end workings. Eventually the main passage circles back round to the main shaft. I guess about 500m of passageway down there.
Very little graffiti down here, although scorch marks can be seen on the ceilings dating from 1839.
“D. Bick surveyed this mine 1st March 1970”
And then it was time to get out
Finally Mrs BB was very concerned to hear of people recently getting lost in a famous Wiltshire mine and suing the local pub for compensation. So again in the theme of “safety is paramount” and to protect the local pub from financial ruin, here’s her survey. Be safe people.
