Croft Granite Quarry

Overview

A large diorite ('granite') quarry near Croft in the South Leicestershire diorites, opened in 1868 by the Pochin family and still worked today, extending into the former Huncote Quarry since the 1970s.

History

Croft Granite Quarry was started in 1868 by the Pochin family -- Henry Davies Pochin and his brother Samuel Davenport Pochin, later created Baron Aberconway in 1911 -- initially as the Croft Granite and Brick Company, its bricks made from clay dug near the River Soar alongside the granite (properly a diorite/granodiorite) itself. Croft stone became known internationally and the quarry grew into one of the largest of its kind in Europe. The English China Clay Company extended the workings into the neighbouring former Huncote Quarry in the mid-1970s. The site has since passed through Aggregate Industries and is now part of the Holcim group; a 1995 planning approval permits extraction of a further 45 million tonnes, expected to take more than 20 years at current rates and to roughly double the quarry's depth.

Geology

Diorite of the South Leicestershire intrusions, sold commercially as granite; the workings later extended into the neighbouring former Huncote Quarry.

Workings

An open quarry in the South Leicestershire diorites, extracting up to 2 million tonnes of granite (properly granodiorite) a year for aggregate; extended into the adjoining former Huncote Quarry since the 1970s.

Closure

Still an active working quarry, with permitted reserves expected to last over 20 years from 1995.

What remains

An active quarry operated within the Holcim group (trading as Aggregate Industries), extracting granite/granodiorite aggregate; a local landmark hill, New Hill, has been built from quarry waste and landscaped with local flora to the site's south-east.

Related mines

• Huncote Quarry — Adjoining quarries in one designation: Croft has extended its workings into Huncote, and the two together form the 35.3-hectare Croft and Huncote Quarry geological SSSI exposing 452-million-year-old tonalite.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Local tradition holds the site was worked as a Roman quarry in the 1st century AD for road and bridge foundations, though scholarship does not support it. (uncertain) ¹

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The quarry was founded in 1868 by Henry Davies Pochin and Samuel Davenport Pochin, initially as the Croft Granite and Brick Company. ¹
• A 1995 planning permission allows extraction of a further 45 million tonnes of granite, expected to take over 20 years at current rates and to roughly double the quarry's depth to about 160 metres below sea level. ²
• Local tradition holds the site was worked as a Roman quarry in the 1st century AD for road and bridge foundations, though scholarship does not support it. (uncertain) ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Croft, Leicestershire — Wikipedia
2. (observational) Croft Quarry (Geograph) — Geograph Britain and Ireland

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 31 August 2026