Swanage quarries, 1911 (photo) · AditNow Community

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cowmanb
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

15 years ago

...Finest Photographs of Cowlease quarries Swanage I have ever seen, played and worked amongst the abandoned workings, the last stone was brought up 1941/42

🔗Swanage-Limestone-Quarry-Archive-Album-Image-45026[linkphoto]Swanage-Limestone-Quarry-Archive-Album-Image-45026[/linkphoto][/link]
[tweak]Photo link fixed - RJV[/tweak]

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Graigfawr
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Newbie

15 years ago

Interesting image - thanks for posting.

Intriguing to see that the horse stepped over the haulage rope with each revolution.

There appears to be very little flat landing space at the head of the incline - unless its just the angle of view?

AR
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

I'm intrigued by the horse gin - it almost looks as though someone's adapted an old ship's capstan with two slabs of stone for side supports. I also notice they're using a chain for winding rather than rope, and I'm guessing there must be a roller or bar behind the capstan to keep the chain low and not trip the poor old horse up. I also note the lack of trailing arm, so there's no brake if the horse trips.....

Follow the horses, Johnny my laddie, follow the horses canny lad-oh!

cowmanb
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

15 years ago

It is called Capstan, the drum is supported between two locally quarried "crab stones". I assume that the speed at which the trolley was raised coupled with the weight of the chain meant that it was always at ground level where the horse stepped over it. At the base of the capstan there is a paul and ratchet which prevented the trolly from decending the slide if for any reason the horse backed up or became unhitched. However common sense would demand that the lift was not stopd until the load was on level ground. The weights involved and the fact that everthing was permanantly outside coupled with the fact that it was in contact with the top of the slide made a chain rather than a rope necessary.

Speedycaver
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Newbie

15 years ago

Great photo, it's nice that they have preserved it. How extensive was that working? The incline is reasonably long but it's gets a bit messy at the bottom, hard to see how how much there was down there.

I take it that is the one you pass on route from the main car park to the light house?

Peter Burgess
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

No, I don't think it is. The preserved one I was privileged to be able to visit and survey for the country park when it was dug open. That is a quarry on the outcrop - the shaft follows the beds - the ones further inland which are in the photos were deeper lying beds which had to be approached by a slope shaft that cut through the beds until they reached the horizon of the building stone bed. Cowmanb will no doubt correct me if I am wrong.

Oh, and the preserved one is of very limited extent - just a slope shaft with two working bays at the bottom when we went into it. It was especially nasty at the bottom, half flooded, very sticky mud, and VERY loose roof!

Peter Burgess
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Newbie

15 years ago

The one close to the lighthouse track I think we knew as "New Vein Quarry" when we visited it.

Speedycaver
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

"Peter Burgess" wrote:
No, I don't think it is. The preserved one I was privileged to be able to visit and survey for the country park when it was dug open. That is a quarry on the outcrop - the shaft follows the beds - the ones further inland which are in the photos were deeper lying beds which had to be approached by a slope shaft that cut through the beds until they reached the horizon of the building stone bed. Cowmanb will no doubt correct me if I am wrong.

Oh, I see. Haven't explored further inland. Need to go and have another look.

Quote:

Oh, and the preserved one is of very limited extent - just a slope shaft with two working bays at the bottom when we went into it. It was especially nasty at the bottom, half flooded, very sticky mud, and VERY loose roof!

Yep, that's the one. I thought it was small but a lot of work went into the incline, hope it was worth it.

Peter Burgess
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

This is a quarr cart, like the one in the 1911 picture. The design of the wheels, which were all mounted separately ie each wheel was mounted in a pair of bearings with no axle joining them as a pair of wheels, is exactly the same design down to the same dimensions, as the remains of a cart found in Merstham Quarry in Surrey, dating from 1809-20.

🔗Swanage-Limestone-Quarry-Archive-Album-Image-46672[linkphoto]Swanage-Limestone-Quarry-Archive-Album-Image-46672[/linkphoto][/link]

The Merstham wheels

🔗Merstham-Firestone-Quarry-Sandstone-Quarry-Archive-Album-Image-46670[linkphoto]Merstham-Firestone-Quarry-Sandstone-Quarry-Archive-Album-Image-46670[/linkphoto][/link]

cowmanb
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

15 years ago

#10

These Photos were taken by a friend in1983, I am not sure when it stopped working or how big it was. After they became uneconomic the owners would often dig the odd stone for one off commissions. This particular Quarry above and below ground was in much better condition than any other locally. It is to the west of Swanage. By 1948 all the ones on Cowlease which ran South from just above the High Street were derilect and overgrown the buildings given over to chicken keeping. Most of the quarries were family busineses with only a small number of men employed. at one stage however it is said that there were a hundred men working under ground in Cowlease alone.