Set in stone

Some lovely pictures in from Corsham today where a proud industrial heritage is going to be permanently honoured.

Volunteers have re-built two Bath Stone Quarry trolleys under the expert leadership of Rodney Veazey at the Bath Stone Quarry Museum’s Trust facility in Corsham.

The Trust owns the trolleys and is donating them to the Town to be displayed as a permanent reminder of the Bath Stone industry in Corsham.

The trolleys – which were put into place today – will be displayed on tramway track along with a unique trolley turntable, originally used in Monk’s Park Quarry in Corsham. 

Mike Dodd has sent me the following information….

‘The late David Pollard, historian, quarry owner and driving force behind the Bath Stone Quarry Museum Trust, saved a number of trolleys and a vast collection of artefacts from the local quarry industry, including the display trolleys.

The two trolleys are 2’ 5½” gauge and capable of carrying around 5 tons of stone block.  After 1845 most new quarries had trolley roads to carry stone underground to the surface. 

From 1865 onwards a number of surface tramways were brought into use in Corsham, eventually connecting 7 quarries to the Great Western Railway at Corsham Stone Wharf near to Corsham Station.  Tramway mileage totalled around 7½ miles.  

Loaded stone trolleys ran by a combination of gravity and horse power to the Wharf.

Horses returned empty trolleys to the quarries and provided haulage underground.

The surface tramways were closed by 1939, however, after WWII a number of quarries re-opened and trolleys continued in use underground and in surface yards.

The last underground trolley road at Monk’s Park Quarry, Corsham closed in 2001.   

Trollies continued in use on the slope shafts at Monk’s Park until 2018 and at the re-opened Hartham Park Quarry, Corsham from 1999 to the present day, where a modern steel version of the trolley is used.

Our two display trollies are slightly different, one is in its original form with brakes operated by a large lever running the full length of the trolley.  A small metal footstep was provided at one end for the Carter to ride on and apply the brakes as required.

The other trolley appears in its final form without brakes or Carter’s footstep.  Initially the footsteps were progressively removed as diesel locomotives replaced horses and  the remaining trolleys had brake gear removed as they were re-built/overhauled in the 1970-1980’s. 

Whilst all timber on the trolleys is new, most of the metalwork is original, dating back to the 19^th Century; the wheelsets on both trolleys are date stamped 1876.’ 

Thanks Mike. Look forward to their official unveiling.

My thanks to Dave Grosvenor for send ing me video of the installation. Haven’t room for it all but here’s how the second and final block of Corsham quarried stone was set in place. The blocks donated by the Hartham Park Quarry.

Meanwhile l notice that elsewhere – beside an entrance to Corsham – is the statue of a sheep. It’s another proud marker – this time of the market town’s historic role as a centre for the wool industry.

You would think Bath might have come up with some way of marking its social and industrial heritage at the various entrances to this city. Something on the A46 roundabout and on the Newbridge side of town too??!!