Fred Lawson's Redmire Quarry (1921)

A small watercolour of 1921 by the Wensleydale painter Fred Lawson showing quarrymen tipping a wagon at Redmire Quarry, with the remains of the old Cobscar lead-mining hush behind them. It has since passed through the Harrogate dealers McTague.

The mining history in this record

Fred Lawson, born at Yeadon near Leeds in 1888, studied at the Dewsbury and Leeds schools of art and settled at Castle Bolton in Wensleydale, where he formed the Castle Bolton Group of Painters. In 1921 he painted the limestone quarry at Redmire, then worked by John Stringer Calvert, who had taken it over between 1908 and 1912 and built an aerial ropeway in 1919 to carry some 140 tons of stone a day to Redmire station.

The picture shows quarrymen and a small wagon being tipped, perhaps into a lime kiln. Behind them is Cobscar Hush, part of the lead mine whose vein was found in 1650 when a storm washed away the topsoil at the edge of Redmire Scar; the quarry later grew over the hush, but in 1921 its remains could still be made out. Ian Spensley, who wrote about the painting in 2020, used it to tell the story of the quarry.

People

Fred Lawson (born 1888), painter, of Castle Bolton. John Stringer Calvert, who worked the quarry at the time.

Legacy today

The watercolour, 8 by 11 inches, signed and dated 1921, was sold by McTague of Harrogate.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Fred Lawson's watercolour of Redmire Quarry in 1921 shows quarrymen and a small wagon being tipped, with the remains of Cobscar Hush behind. (documented fact) ^1,2
• The watercolour measures 8 by 11 inches and is signed lower left and dated 1921. (documented fact) ²
• The wagon may have been tipping into a lime kiln. (later recollection, uncertain) ¹
• Fred Lawson, born at Yeadon in 1888, moved to Castle Bolton in Wensleydale, formed the Castle Bolton Group of Painters and exhibited at the Royal Academy. (documented fact) ³

Mines

• Redmire Quarry — North Yorkshire
  Fred Lawson painted quarrymen at work at Redmire Quarry in 1921, two years after John Stringer Calvert built its aerial ropeway.

Sources

1. (secondary) Redmire Quarry and Fred Lawson's Painting — Yorkshire Dales History (Ian Spensley)
2. (secondary) Fred Lawson "Redmire Quarry, 1921" watercolour — McTague of Harrogate
3. (secondary) Fred Lawson "Redmire Quarry" Watercolour — Selling Antiques (McTague of Harrogate listing)

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026