Quarries in the Portesham area
19th century 6” O.S. Map of Portesham showing the quarries that provided limestone from both the Portland Freestone and the Purbeck Cypris Freestones. Reproduced with permission of the National Library of Scotland. From their website: http://maps.nls.uk/6inch-England-and-Wales/
Quarries in the Portesham area
The quarries at Portesham were originally owned by the Abbey at Abbotsbury, and both the Lower Purbeck Cypris Freestones and the Portland Freestone below it were used in the Abbey buildings, and have been re-used in the village buildings.
The Portland part of the quarry is visible from the footpath which leads to Portesham Farm, and the DIGS group have placed information boards explaining both the geology of the quarry and that of the view over the bay towards Portland. There are seven beds of limestone, chalky or micritic in texture, some of which include bivalve fossils replaced by calcite.
The quarries at Portesham were originally owned by the Abbey at Abbotsbury, and both the Lower Purbeck Cypris Freestones and the Portland Freestone below it were used in the Abbey buildings, and have been re-used in the village buildings.
The Portland part of the quarry is visible from the footpath which leads to Portesham Farm, and the DIGS group have placed information boards explaining both the geology of the quarry and that of the view over the bay towards Portland. There are seven beds of limestone, chalky or micritic in texture, some of which include bivalve fossils replaced by calcite.
|
The O.S. map calls the site Rocket quarry, a local name referring to the fossil tree trunk immediately west of the open quarry. At one time there was an inclined rail leading down to a railway line in the valley, and this carried stone from both parts of the quarry to the main line at Upwey.
Upper Quarry, general view. Photo: AH
Stromatolitic "log" at Rocket Quarry. Photo: AH
|
Rocket Quarry. Photo: AH
On the plateau above the main quarry face many excavations can be seen, apparently becoming deeper northwards. This is because the beds dip northwards, and the quarrymen needed to go deeper to find the Lower Purbeck Cypris Freestone. These beds can be seen in the upper level of the quarry, in four different beds, some of them thick enough to be cut as ashlar. They are all rich in Cypris fossils. The 16th century walls at Athelhampton are built of this stone, which Pevsner says comes from Portesham.
On the steep slope below the quarry there were excavations in the Kimmeridge shale early in the 20th century. There is a limekiln to the west of the open face, which burnt the waste limestone.
|
