Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment of Hartington Staion Quarry, Derbyshire

In November 2002, ARCUS were commissioned by the Peak District National Park Authority to undertake an archaeological desk-based assessment of Hartington Station Quarry, Derbyshire. The desk-based assessment comprised a site visit, documentary, cartographic and aerial photographic research. This report presents the results of this work and is intended to provide a summary of quarrying activity and a record of the current preservation of features related to such activity. The assessment has examined archaeological sites within a 1km radius of the quarry in order to place the quarry within its historic context. There is extensive evidence for prehistoric activity throughout the area; however evidence for later activity until the medieval and post-medieval periods is poor. Apart form upland agricultural practices, the predominant land use in the area was the extraction of limestone for use as a building stone, or for making lime. Station quarry was opened in 1922 and was developed in conjunction with the construction of the Ashbourne to Buxton Railway. Stone was crushed, coated in asphalt and loaded onto railway wagons for transportation from the site. During the 1940s the quarry expanded, however the closure of the railway in 1964 appears to correspond with the decline of the quarry as a working concern. The survey has identified archaeological features remaining within the confines of Hartington Station Quarry which are in varying states of survival and fragility. The earliest remains, apart from within the quarry floor. the exposed working faces, are a series of tramlines Associated with these are the remains of three quarry sheds and a quarry workers mess room and store was recorded as part of the survey. Remnants of monumental concrete piers and plinths from a former asphalt plant adjacent to the railway siding were also noted. A row of concrete storage sheds appears to be contemporary with these features. No pre-nineteenth-century features were identified on the site during the compilation of this report.