Marsden Quarry

Overview

The magnesian limestone quarry above Marsden on the South Shields coast, worked by the Harton Coal Company and burnt in a battery of fifteen lime kilns beside it. Colliery, kilns and railway went together, and the quarry has outlived all three.

History

Marsden quarry sits above the coast four miles north of Sunderland, cutting into the magnesian limestone that makes the cliffs here. Limestone came from the quarry and coal from Whitburn Colliery, sunk in 1874, and both fed the range of lime kilns built beside the coast road — seven complete kilns and one part-built inside a massive stone battery of fifteen draw arches, with two detached circular brick kilns bound in iron hoops added later. The Harton Coal Company built the railway that took the lime away in the 1870s and rebuilt it thoroughly in 1926. That line carried passengers as well as stone, and its elderly rolling stock earned it the name the Marsden Rattler. The official returns show a substantial operation: 144 employed in 1896, 153 in 1897, 151 in 1905, with about two thirds of them returned as below ground. By 1922 that had fallen to 24. Tilcon held the quarry in the 1980s and limestone was still being returned from it in 1984. The kilns and the colliery both closed in the 1960s; stone is still worked in the quarry.

Geology

The magnesian limestone of the Durham coast — the same Permian rock that forms Marsden Rock and the cliffs of the Leas. A fatal accident report of 1903 describes men working clay off a fissure in the limestone and filling it into wagons, which is the kind of irregularity this rock throws up.

Workings

A large quarry with both open faces and workings returned as below ground: 86 of 144 in 1896, 99 of 153 in 1897, 100 of 151 in 1905. Beside it, fifteen draw arches of lime kilns in a stone battery, each arch with two or three eyes, and two circular brick kilns to the south. A brick and concrete loading platform of the 1950s stands in front of the kilns, from which lime was loaded into trucks on the railway below.

What remains

The lime kilns are a scheduled ancient monument, recorded and conserved under a programme drawn up by 2002, and stand on National Trust land at the Leas. Stone is still worked in the quarry.

The kiln battery with its fifteen draw arches, the two brick kilns, the 1950s loading platform and the trackbed of the Marsden Rattler.

Related mines

• Raisby Hill Quarry — Both work the Permian magnesian limestone of east Durham, and both are returned in the official Lists of Quarries with most of their workforce below ground — an oddity of the way this stone was got.
• Whitburn Colliery — One operation: the colliery's coal burnt the quarry's limestone in the kilns between them, and the Harton Coal Company's railway served both.

Nearby mines

• Whitburn Colliery — 0.6 km SE
• St Hilda’s Colliery — 5.0 km NW
• Hebburn Colliery — 5.3 km W
• Boldon Colliery — 6.0 km W
• Wearmouth Colliery — 6.1 km S

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

Recorded claims

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

• A large nineteenth-century range of industrial kilns of two types: seven complete and one semi-complete kiln housed within a massive stone battery of fifteen draw arches, each arch having two or three eyes, and to the south two detached circular brick kilns wrapped about with iron bands. In front stands a brick and concrete loading platform of the 1950s from which lime was loaded into trucks on the railway below. ¹
• Limestone came from Marsden Quarries to the west of the kilns and coal from Whitburn Colliery (1874-1968); the kilns are probably of similar date. Lime was taken away on the adjacent railway built in the 1870s by the Harton Coal Co. and extensively rebuilt in 1926. Both the kilns and the colliery closed in the 1960s, but stone is still worked in the nearby quarry. ¹
• The official Lists of Quarries give 144 employed in 1896 (86 below ground), 153 in 1897 (99 below), 151 in 1905 (100 below) and 24 in 1922. Limestone is returned from the quarry as late as 1984, by which time Tilcon held it. ²
• John Donkin, a platelayer of 50, was killed on 24 September 1896. He and another man were tipping trucks at the end of the rubbish heap; Donkin walked forward to the extreme edge of the tip to speak to somebody at the bottom, the ground gave way, and he was precipitated among the hot rubbish. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Marsden Lime Kilns (HER 1002) — Tyne and Wear Historic Environment Record
2. (secondary) Marsden Quarry (Limestone) — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026