Eastlays Quarry

Overview

A Bath stone quarry at Gastard, worked from 1887, converted by the War Department in 1936 into the second sub-depot of the Central Ammunition Depot at Corsham and now one of the country's largest underground wine cellars.

History

Bath stone was first taken at Eastlays, at Gastard south of Corsham, in 1887, by the firm of Pictor's Monks which was shortly afterwards absorbed into the Bath Stone Firms. The quarry produced very good building and carving stone. It went out by tramway to Park Lane and then downhill to the Great Western sidings at Corsham, and from there as far afield as Cape Town and Saffron Walden. Quarrying stopped in about 1934. In 1936 the War Department began converting the quarry into the second sub-depot of the Central Ammunition Depot at Corsham, alongside Tunnel Quarry, Ridge Quarry and Monkton Farleigh. Some twenty-four acres of workings were taken in hand. Much of the waste stone was brought out and stacked on the surface around the slope shafts so that a bomb could not penetrate to the store below; the resulting artificial hill is now a nature reserve. Two further shafts were sunk to the single original slope shaft, and at least four vertical air shafts were put down. Underground the quarry was whitewashed, given a level floor and electric lighting throughout, and air-conditioned to make the atmosphere dry enough for ammunition. Unlike Ridge, Eastlays was engineered to a high standard, with roads laid in straight lines and surfaced in rolled asphalt. About 2,800 people worked there during the war. The depot was mothballed in 1962 and the Ministry of Defence left in the following decade. EMF Farming Associates bought the quarry in 1972, and in 1976 proposed turning what the press called the Caves of Death into the world's largest mushroom farm; the local council refused it on the grounds that the roads could not carry the traffic. In 1981 Rusepalm Developments proposed a nuclear bunker on the site; the county council rejected the plans and the company collapsed with substantial debts. The BBC filmed an episode of Blake's Seven in the quarry in 1978 and part of The Fourth Arm there in 1983. Wine has been stored underground since the mid-1980s. The cellars hold around 800,000 cases at a time and handle some four million a year, ninety feet down, at a steady thirteen to fourteen degrees with the humidity held between seventy-five and eighty per cent, without daylight or vibration. The oldest bottle laid down there is reported to be a Chateau Lafite-Rothschild of 1791.

Geology

The quarry works the Bath freestone of the Great Oolite, which here produced very good building and carving stone. As elsewhere around Corsham the rock carries a wide unsupported span, leaving broad chambers between pillars of unworked stone; the natural humidity underground is high, which is why the ammunition depot had to be air-conditioned and why the conditions suit wine.

Workings

About twenty-four acres of underground workings were converted for the depot, in chambers between stone pillars. Access was originally by a single slope shaft; the War Department added two more and there are at least four vertical air shafts. The slope shaft runs a hundred metres and has 157 steps, dropping about thirty metres below ground.

Closure

Stone working stopped in about 1934. The ammunition depot was mothballed in 1962 and the Ministry of Defence's last recorded use was in the 1960s; the quarry was sold out of government hands in 1972.

What remains

The quarry is intact and in commercial use as a bonded warehouse for fine wine, with the original ministry shafts still serving as the way in and out and the old ammunition district offices in use as wine offices. The surface loading bays were adapted for lorries. It is private business premises.

The slope and vertical shafts and their fan houses survive in use, along with the loading bays. The artificial hill of waste stone heaped over the workings during the conversion is now a nature reserve.

Redevelopment

Refused as a mushroom farm in 1976 and as a nuclear bunker in 1981, used twice as a BBC filming location, and in use as an underground wine store since the mid-1980s.

Related mines

• Monks Park Mine — The adjoining Monks Park workings, from which Eastlays takes its alternative names.
• Monkton Farleigh Quarry — A fellow sub-depot of the Central Ammunition Depot, engineered to the same high standard.
• Ridge Quarry — A fellow sub-depot of the Central Ammunition Depot, converted from July 1936 alongside Ridge.
• Tunnel Quarry, Corsham — The other Corsham sub-depot of the Central Ammunition Depot, converted at the same time.

Nearby mines

• Monks Park Mine — 0.8 km NW
• Ridge Quarry — 0.8 km NW
• Tunnel Quarry, Corsham — 3.3 km NW
• Spring Quarry — 3.8 km NW
• Box Quarry — 6.6 km W

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

What's uncertain

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

• The requisition is dated to 1937, the year the government took Pictor's Monks Quarry for an ammunition store. (disputed) ^4,1

Recorded claims

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

• Bath stone was first quarried at Eastlays in 1887 by Pictor's Monks. ^1,2
• The stone went out by tramway to Park Lane and then downhill to the Great Western sidings at Corsham, and was sent as far as Cape Town and Saffron Walden. ²
• The quarry was converted from 1936 into the second sub-depot of the Central Ammunition Depot at Corsham. ^3,2
• The requisition is dated to 1937, the year the government took Pictor's Monks Quarry for an ammunition store. (disputed) ^4,1
• About twenty-four acres of underground workings were converted for the depot. ²
• The quarry has been in use as an underground bonded wine store since the mid-1980s, holding around 800,000 cases at a time. ^1,2
• Plans to work the quarry as the world's largest mushroom farm in 1976 and as a nuclear bunker in 1981 were both refused by the council. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (observational) Eastlays Quarry, Gastard — Higgypop
2. (secondary) Eastlays Quarry - Mendip Cave Registry site details — Mendip Cave Registry
3. (secondary) Corsham Ammunition Depot and Standby Government Headquarters — Subterranea Britannica
4. (secondary) Chronological History of Bath Stone Quarrying — Cerberus Spelaeological Society Journal
5. (primary) Eastlays and Park Lane Mines - abandonment plan catalogue entry — British Geological Survey

Record created: 23 September 2026 · Last researched: 23 September 2026