Owned by United Steel Cos Ltd, Ore Mining Branch.
This was a modern development being started in 1948 to tap the deeper Iron Ore deposits known to exist in Exton Park. The scheme was authorised but only after significant local opposition. By 1959 it was producing 15,000 tons/week but this was doubled when the entire system of quarries and rail lines was finished.
The NGR given is for the centre of the quarry network at the reception sidings where the offices and engine sheds still exist, though altered due to changes in cladding.
When The Exton Park mines closed in 1973 leaving idle the massive dragline excavator W1400 named 'Sundew', BSC took the decision to move Sundew to the Corby 'Shotley quarry' in 1974, a distance I am told of perhaps 18 miles...
The proposed walk was done not as a 'Stunt' as many suggested but because to dismantle Sundew and move her bit by bit and re-assemble would take 3 years whereas it could be walked to Corby in 3 months. This was quite a feat of planning as by all accounts they crossed-
10 roads,
4 rivers,
1 main railway line,
74 hedge lines.
the journey started on 10th June and was completed by 5th August, Sundew carried the message on her rear of "EXCUSE ME, I'm walking to Corby... So obviously the BSC PR guys had some part in this.
By all accounts the cost of dismantling was way more than paying all the various landowners for their trouble in accomodating Sundew.
The average speed calculated as 1 mile per 10 hours of actual movement
Vast amounts of time were by all accounts taken waiting for access, bridge building etc etc