Marden Mine

Overview

The easternmost of the Upper Greensand stone quarries under Godstone Hill, worked for firestone from the mid-19th century, then as a mushroom farm, then as a hearthstone mine. During the Second World War part of it became a secure bonded store while the rest was still mined, and it was abandoned in 1946.

History

Marden Mine lies about half a mile east of the Godstone Main Series workings and is the easternmost of the major quarries along Godstone Hill. It began in the mid-19th century as a firestone quarry, almost identical in method and date to its neighbour, and the earliest firm date for it is 1849, when the Clayton estate leased Marden New Stone Quarry to George Baldwyn of Godstone. Baldwyn underlet it in 1854 to Henry Brinsley Sheridan of Brompton, Middlesex; a deposited railway plan of 1855 for a line from Caterham to 'Godstone Stone Quarry (Marden)' shows it in the occupation of the Godstone Stone Company; and in 1869 the Godstone Hill and Marden quarries were leased together to Archibald Frederick Paull of London. Stone was moved on cast-iron plate rails: slots cut in the floor for a line of plates run from the entrance towards the ventilation shaft, another line ran north from the present main entrance, and broken rails were used as wedges in the older stone roof supports.

In the late 19th century the quarry was used, like Godstone Main Series, as a mushroom farm. That ended in the First World War, when the French mushroom workers appear to have gone home to fight. The workings were then reopened for hearthstone, the same bed of rock put to a different use: it was sold as a whitening block for doorsteps and hearths, a product in steady demand from the late 19th century to the Second World War. Hearthstone was won in lumps with hammers and wedges along natural joints, leaving rough, unstable passages, and at Marden the rock is softer than further west. Timber props failed in the crumbly stone, so the miners propped with stacks of stone instead, and parts of the eastern side have since been lost to large collapses.

During the Second World War the site was acquired by James Gardner, owner of Chislehurst Caves, and the western half of the old firestone quarry was sealed with heavy doors, many of which remain, and converted into a secure bonded store; some accounts add an ammunition store. The eastern half was still being worked for hearthstone, and mining continued until the end of the war or just after it. The British Geological Survey holds a combined plan of the Marden and Godstone workings dated to their abandonment in 1946. The mine was then sealed and forgotten until 1979, when cavers of Unit Two, later the Wealden Cave and Mine Society, reopened it through the old air shaft. The present entrance dates from the early 1980s, and the mine is gated as a bat hibernation site.

Geology

The Upper Greensand of the North Downs escarpment, the same bed worked for firestone as a building stone and for hearthstone as a whitening agent. Marden is at the far eastern end of the firestone outcrop, where the geology is variable and the rock noticeably softer than to the west.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Pillar-and-stall firestone quarrying in large blocks from the mid-19th century, with square, stable passages and cast-iron plateways; later hearthstone mining in lumps with hammers and wedges along natural joints, leaving rough, irregular galleries propped with stone stacks and dry-stone walling. A ventilation shaft is believed to have been made by the mushroom growers.

Closure

Hearthstone mining in the eastern half continued until the end of the Second World War or just after it; the combined Marden and Godstone plan is dated to abandonment in 1946.

What remains

Sealed from about 1946 until 1979, and now gated as a bat hibernation site. It is the least stable of the Surrey stone mines: parts of the eastern side have been lost to massive collapses, and the ground around it is pocked with the holes and collapses of smaller hearthstone mines.

An entrance built in the early 1980s and the old air shaft. Underground, reports from 2009 and 2016 describe dry-stone walling, stone-stack props, wartime doors, the rusting iron frame of a water barrel, prop screws, a lamp and lengths of trackway.

Redevelopment

Converted in part to a secure bonded store during the Second World War; no later redevelopment.

Related mines

• Godstone Mine — The two Godstone Hill stone quarries: contemporary firestone workings half a mile apart, leased together to A. F. Paull in 1869 and recorded on one BGS abandonment plan as 'Marden and Godstone Mine'.

What's uncertain

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

• Also used as an ammunition store during the Second World War. (uncertain) ^4,5

Recorded claims

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

• Began in the mid-19th century as a firestone quarry, contemporary with Godstone Main Series half a mile to the west. ^1,2
• Leased as Marden New Stone Quarry to George Baldwyn of Godstone in 1849, the earliest authenticated date for the quarry. ³
• Leased with the Godstone Hill quarries to Archibald Frederick Paull of London in 1869. ³
• Worked with cast-iron plate rails, whose floor slots run from the entrance towards the ventilation shaft. ³
• After use as a mushroom farm ended in the First World War, the mine was reopened for hearthstone. ^1,4
• Acquired during the Second World War by James Gardner of Chislehurst Caves, and the western half converted into a secure bonded store. ^1,4
• Also used as an ammunition store during the Second World War. (uncertain) ^4,5
• Worked for hearthstone for a short period after the Second World War. ^1,2
• A combined plan of the Marden and Godstone workings is dated to abandonment in 1946. ⁶
• Sealed and lost until 1979, when members of Unit Two, later the Wealden Cave and Mine Society, reopened it through the old air shaft. ¹
• Props are stacks of stone rather than timber, because timber supports failed in the crumbly hearthstone. ^4,5
• Recorded as a sandstone and hearthstone mine at TQ 3572 5347, 758 metres from the Godstone quarry. ⁷

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Marden Mine — Underground Kent
2. (secondary) Surrey Mines — Wealden Cave & Mine Society
3. (secondary) Plate Rails in the Surrey Firestone Quarries (Peter Burgess) — Railway & Canal Historical Society
4. (observational) Report - Marden Mine - Surrey - May 2016 — 28DaysLater
5. (observational) Marden Mine (report, October 2009) — Derelict Places
6. (primary) Marden and Godstone Mine (BGS mine plan MP23321) — British Geological Survey
7. (secondary) Marden Mine — Buddlepit Mine Database

Record created: 28 September 2026 · Last researched: 29 September 2026