Ridge Quarry

Overview

A small Bath stone quarry at Neston near Corsham, taken for explosives storage in 1915 and again in 1936, whose Great War conversion made it the model for the whole Central Ammunition Depot that followed.

History

Randell and Saunders began Old Ridge Quarry in 1875, and in 1878 the Corsham Quarrying Company started New Ridge Quarry close to Neston. The two were worked for Bath stone until 1914 and there was once no obvious barrier between them. In 1915 the Ministry of Munitions took the quarry for TNT and cordite storage, clearing waste stone, strengthening the roof and installing electric lighting, tramways and racking. It was abandoned soon after the war, but that Great War conversion made it the key progenitor of everything that followed at Corsham. When the War Office looked for underground magazines it drew up a shortlist in May 1930 of five sites: Chislehurst Caves, the slate mines about Blaenau Ffestiniog, Scout Quarry in Rossendale, the Meadowbank salt mine in Cheshire, and Ridge. Ridge was chosen for further investigation because half its twelve acres had already been cleared and converted, a tramway ran to the Great Western main line at Corsham station, two-foot track and raised stacking platforms survived underground, and a steam winding engine that could lift six tons still stood at the head of the main shaft. Officials returned in November 1934 and looked at Tunnel Quarry as well; Tunnel offered forty-five acres against six at Ridge, and Treasury approval was given to buy both for £35,000. Eastlays and Monkton Farleigh were bought later. Work began at Ridge, Eastlays and Tunnel in July 1936, put about as a Ministry of Food emergency dump, and Ridge was brought into commission in a very unfinished state by the end of that year. Even so, 96,000 tons of stone debris had to be taken out. A standby electric hauling engine was added because the one-in-three gradient loaded the winding plant heavily. The quarry was allocated to the RAF in November 1936 for bombs and bulk explosives and held a total capacity of 13,000 tons. By the outbreak of war RAF stocks stood at 11,569 tons, including 4,000 tons of bulk TNT. Thirty civilian gangers did the stacking and loading. A second slope shaft, the steep West Ridge incline, was reopened on 12 February 1942 to reach the lower level and take another 1,500 tons of bombs. Stocks peaked at 31,563 tons early in 1944, and Ridge sent out 7,744 tons in April 1944 and 14,294 tons in May as the bombing that preceded Overlord was flown. Ridge was never reclassified for permanent storage and nothing further was done underground after 1942. Damp told against it: 2,000 boxes of bulk TNT were recommended for destruction after wet rot, and in February 1945 six thousand American 500 lb bombs in the lower section were found unstable on rotting dunnage and the most dangerous were removed. The last 7,249 tons of high-explosive bombs were struck off charge on 4 January 1949 and sent to Chilmark. The RAF finally abandoned the quarry in 1955 and the Army left in 1964.

Geology

The quarry works the Bath freestone of the Great Oolite. A major slip fault crosses the workings, so that one half lies about twenty feet lower than the other; the quarrymen followed the stone down and left the mine on two levels. The rock carries a wide unsupported span between pillars, and the ground is damp enough that the quarry was never fit for the prolonged storage of anything packed in wood.

Workings

Nine and a half usable acres, of which three and a half were support pillars, leaving six acres of storage. Access was by a main slope shaft on a one-in-three gradient with a steam winch, later backed by a standby electric hauler; an old vertical ventilation shaft was fitted with a pair of counterbalanced electric lifts in wooden guides, and the West Ridge incline was reopened in 1942. Two sloping haulageways with compressed-air winches connected the upper and lower halves across the fault, and a two-foot gauge railway served every storage bay; loaded trucks were pushed by hand on the level. Concreting of fifteen pillars and a length of perimeter wall began early in 1938 and was suspended within months as too costly, and the half-finished corseting is still there.

Closure

Stone working ended in 1914. The RAF abandoned the quarry in 1955 and the Army presence ended in 1964, after which the site went to care and maintenance under the Ministry of Works and Buildings.

What remains

The No. 1 slope shaft and the lift shaft were blocked with demolition debris bulldozed into them, though the No. 2 shaft remains. Underground the unfinished concrete corseting survives in varying stages and illustrates the construction methods used in the larger Corsham depots; little else shows the extent of the storage area. There is an underground link, blocked, to the adjacent Monks Park Quarry.

The Neston Estate repurchased the quarry in 1975 and demolished the surface buildings except the No. 2 shaft transit shed, which found an agricultural use. Twenty-seven wooden huts built for military police stood between the shafts and the Corsham lane; none survives.

Redevelopment

The site returned to the Neston Estate in 1975 and has not been redeveloped.

Related mines

• Eastlays Quarry — A fellow sub-depot of the Central Ammunition Depot, converted from July 1936 alongside Ridge.
• Monks Park Mine — Adjoining workings, with an underground link between the two that is now blocked.
• Tunnel Quarry, Corsham — Inspected together in November 1934 and bought together for £35,000; both became sub-depots of the Central Ammunition Depot.

Nearby mines

• Monks Park Mine — 0.4 km NE
• Eastlays Quarry — 0.8 km SE
• Tunnel Quarry, Corsham — 2.5 km NW
• Spring Quarry — 3.0 km NW
• Box Quarry — 5.8 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 Cerberus chronology of Bath stone quarrying gives 1940 as the year Ridge Mine closed. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Old Ridge Quarry was begun in 1875 by Randell and Saunders and New Ridge in 1878 by the Corsham Quarrying Company. ¹
• The Ministry of Munitions took the quarry in 1915 for TNT and cordite storage and left it in 1922. ²
• In May 1930 Ridge was one of five sites shortlisted by the War Office for underground munitions storage, and the one chosen for further investigation. ²
• The usable ground amounted to nine and a half acres, of which three and a half were support pillars, leaving six acres for storage. ²
• 96,000 tons of stone debris were removed during the conversion of 1936. ^2,3
• Ridge held a total capacity of 13,000 tons, and stocks peaked at 31,563 tons early in 1944. ²
• The RAF abandoned the quarry in 1955 and the Army left in 1964. ²
• The Cerberus chronology of Bath stone quarrying gives 1940 as the year Ridge Mine closed. (disputed) ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Chronological History of Bath Stone Quarrying — Cerberus Spelaeological Society Journal
2. (secondary) Ridge Quarry — Subterranea Britannica (Nick McCamley)
3. (observational) Ridge Quarry, Neston — Higgypop
4. (primary) Monks Park, Ridge, Park Lane and Eastlays Mines - abandonment plan catalogue entry — British Geological Survey
5. (secondary) Ridge Quarry Slope Shaft 2 - Mendip Cave Registry site details — Mendip Cave Registry

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