Swinburne Quarry

Overview

A whinstone quarry of about thirty hectares on the Great Whin Sill north of Colwell, worked since the 1940s for roadstone and aggregate and, when wanted, armour stone for the construction industry. It belonged to the Amalgamated Roadstone Corporation in the 1950s and was still returning igneous rock in 1984. By October 2014 nothing was being extracted or coated on the site and stone was being carted to the neighbouring Keepershield Quarry; the ground is to become farmland, grazing, woodland and a large lake.

History

The quarry lies about ten kilometres north of Hexham and a kilometre and a half north of Colwell, and covers some thirty hectares of the Great Whin Sill. It has been worked since the 1940s. The Durham Mining Museum's entry, taken from the Directory of Mines and Quarries, gives the Amalgamated Roadstone Corporation Ltd. as owner in the 1950s and ARC in the 1980s, with igneous rock returned in 1984. A review of conditions was carried out in 1993, and in 2003 a variation of the interim development order permission and the consolidation of earlier permissions were approved. The site supplies whinstone and, when required, armour stone to the construction industry. By October 2014 no extraction or coating was going on within the quarry, and lorry loads of stone were being taken periodically to the nearby Keepershield Quarry instead. Historic England's account of the county's building stones counts Swinburne, with Barrasford, among the large Northumberland whinstone quarries worked mainly for roadstone and aggregate.

Geology

The quarry works the Great Whin Sill, intruded into the Alston Formation and running in a near-continuous belt through south-central Northumberland from Kirkwhelpington westwards to Greenhead. The sill rock — whinstone — is a dark grey-black to black, fine to medium grained, weakly porphyritic quartz-dolerite, with small phenocrysts of plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene set in a fine dark groundmass and appreciable iron oxides and pyrite. The grain size drops markedly at the sill's margins, where the rock is a very fine-grained tachylite, and in its upper half the dolerite is cut locally by flat-lying sheets and veins of coarse pegmatitic dolerite with crystals up to twenty millimetres long. Its hardness and resistance to erosion are what make it an excellent roadstone and aggregate.

Workings

An open quarry of about thirty hectares on the sill, with crushing and coating plant. By 2014 the plant was standing but idle, and stone was being carried out by lorry to Keepershield Quarry.

Closure

Not recorded as closed. Permissions were reviewed in 1993 and consolidated in 2003, but by October 2014 there was no extraction or coating on the site and stone was being taken to Keepershield Quarry instead. Restoration is to be to a mixture of agriculture, light grazing land, woodland and a large lake.

What remains

Visited in October 2014, the quarry was intact but idle: no extraction or coating was taking place, the plant and buildings were still standing and surprisingly complete, and lorry loads of stone were being taken periodically to Keepershield Quarry.

The quarry faces, the crushing and coating plant and its buildings, standing but disused when visited in 2014.

Redevelopment

Restoration is to be to a mixture of agriculture, light grazing land, woodland and a large lake.

Related mines

• Divethill Quarry — Both quarry the Great Whin Sill, the same named intrusion, in the North Tyne district, and Historic England's account of the county's building stones names them together among the places its whinstone was worked.
• Keepershields Quarry — Both quarry the Great Whin Sill, and by October 2014 Swinburne had stopped extracting and coating and was sending lorry loads of its stone to Keepershields instead.

Nearby mines

• Barrasford Quarry — 3.9 km SW
• Divethill Quarry — 4.2 km NE
• Keepershields Quarry — 6.3 km SW
• Brunton Bank Quarry — 6.8 km S
• Fallowfield Mine — 8.7 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.

• Owned by the Amalgamated Roadstone Corporation Ltd. in the 1950s and by ARC in the 1980s, with igneous rock returned in 1984. ¹
• The quarry covers about thirty hectares, ten kilometres north of Hexham and a kilometre and a half north of Colwell, and has been worked since the 1940s. ²
• A review of conditions was carried out in 1993, and in 2003 a variation of the interim development order permission and the consolidation of earlier permissions were approved. ²
• By October 2014 no extraction or coating was taking place and lorry loads of stone were being taken periodically to the nearby Keepershield Quarry. ²
• Restoration is to be to a mixture of agriculture, light grazing land, woodland and a large lake. ²
• Swinburne, with Barrasford, was among the large Northumberland quarries worked mainly for roadstone and aggregate. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Swinburne Quarry (Whinstone) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (observational) Swinburne Quarry, Northumberland, October 2014 — 28DaysLater
3. (secondary) CED03 Whinstone (quoting Historic England, Building Stones of England: Northumberland) — Stone Library, Sheffield Hallam University

Record created: 23 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026