SU2: CORSHAM STONE QUARRYING HERITAGE

Adult £4 - 10.5 miles

Meet at the Springfield Centre, Corsham SN13 9DN; W3W address: obstinate.snapping.engineers
Please make your own way there; good parking.

Please note the start time is the time we leave so please arrive 10 minutes beforehand for registration & briefing.

Also, we have a ‘no dogs except assistance dogs’ policy for all our walks.

This is a circular walk with a few steep ascents and descents and glorious views.

The historic town of Corsham maintained its prosperity after the decline of the wool trade through quarrying of Bath Stone, with underground mining works that lie 100 feet below the surface and extends to the South and West of the town. The below-ground Corsham complex is a result of the quarrying of Oolitic stone from the mid-19th and early-20th centuries.

Oolitic limestone had been industrially quarried in the locality since the beginning of the 18th century, largely instigated by Ralph Allen who capitalised on the reserves at his estate at Combe Down. By 1885 there were 12 firms operating in the Corsham area, seven of which amalgamated under the Bath and Portland Stone Firms Ltd. which by 1900 were producing 3,000,000 cubic feet of stone a year (McCamley 2007). 

The ‘Golden Age’ of quarrying at Corsham dates from 1850 to 1910, which was instigated by Brunel’s construction of Box Tunnel. This opened after fourteen years of construction in 1841, revealing the industrial potential of the area. (Corsham The Human Journey).

Today, there are still active underground quarries that will be seen on the walk.

Our route leaves the Campus to walk past various houses built of Bath Stone and on to the Remembrance Garden with the Duke of Edinburgh engraved memorial.  We then walk on to Wastfield, Tramways and old Potley Bridge to view the eastern portal of Box Tunnel. 

This is an area where cut stone from the various quarries was first transported and loaded on to the GWR train network to be sent all around the country and the World.

Along Pockeridge Drive towards MoD Corsham, we will see defence positions and an air shaft for the WWII underground railway station with 44 acres of storage facilities, conveyor belts for moving ammunition, ventilation fans, generators and barracks, all developed from Brunel’s tunnelling and the underground quarrying activities of earlier centuries. Known as Tunnel Quarry.

On to Westwells and the site of a forgotten quarry and the now disused ‘Donkey Field’, site of previous workers’ prefab estate.

Passing the former site of HMS Royal Arthur, where the late Duke of Edinburgh served, we will pass the old workings of Sands Quarry and onto Hazelbury Manor, a Grade 1 Listed property, parts of which date back to the 15^th Century.  

Walking through Box Hill Woods we pass a myriad of old quarries and can view some of the entrances which are now closed.  Emerging from the woods to view Brunel’s GWR line and Middlehill with the stunning views across Box towards Colerne and to Bath.  

At the Quarryman’s Arms, which displays old quarry saws, quarrying equipment, and quarry maps, we take the Stairway to Heaven past the old workings of a stone quarry, to reach Beech Road, where the old tramway ran, and then down into the By Brook valley to Drewett’s Mill.  

The 12-mile course of the By Brook from Castle Combe to Bathford used to sustain many mills used for grain milling, wool fulling and later paper making. A perfect walk.

Our walk then ascends gradually back up the valley to reach the former location of HQ10 Group in WWII at Rudloe Manor, formally known as Browns Quarry developed as a small independent quarry at the NE of Tunnel Quarry.  In the 1940s  it was converted into the HQ bunker and finally became a Southern Sector Control Centre during the Cold War.  

A beautiful property now being carefully restored.  From here, there are more glorious views across the By Brook valley.

The walk follows the contour lines with great views out to Colerne and takes us down through woods, then a sharp hill up to Lower Pickwick Farm.

We pass an air shaft for the use of quarries at Park Lane, where stone has been extracted since the 1880s. The mine ceased production in the 1960s when concrete became popular for Modernist architecture and was re-opened in 2013.

We cross the A4 back into Corsham where we will see the hidden site of an emergency exit for the underground quarries before passing the current Park Lane Quarry stone store. Park Lane was one of the most successful quarries in the Corsham area producing large blocks of excellent quality stone. The mine remained sealed, until it was re-opened again in 2013.

Today the mine is in full production and the bats which took up residence during the closure now have their own closed off area and are monitored on a regular basis. The colony of lesser horseshoe bats is growing steadily as are the numbers of greater horseshoe bats. (Park Lane Bathstone).

Our final leg of the walk will take us over the former entrance site to the Corsham Ammunition Depot entrances and past Pockeridge House, where Brunel stayed when building Box Tunnel. 

A short walk through Pockeridge Lakes and up Valley Road brings us nicely back to the start.