This small but well produced book – it runs to 96 pages – provides a fascinating snapshot of Cumbria’s quarrying industry. It looks at pre-industrial quarrying, the exploitation of slate, granite, limestone, sandstone, gypsum, sand and clay and examines quarry infrastructure and the processing and transport of stone.
With over 170 images, this is really a visual history of Cumbrian quarrying. Many of the photographs are shots by the author of both working and abandoned quarries. There are also historical views of working quarries taken from the British Geological Survey’s image collection, extracts from early Ordnance Survey maps, copies of historical prints and some reproductions of quarry-related archives. The images are accompanied by expanded captions that provide historical information – where known - on individual workings and help to explain the various extractive methods in use at particular quarries. This is a wide ranging account that looks not only at the major and regionally important slate and granite quarries at places like Kirkby Fell and Shap but also includes many of the small, lesser known stone workings on the Pennine fringe of north-east Cumbria.
The photographic captions include a quarry’s name plus an eight-figure grid reference, the latter a very useful field aid in locating many of the more remote sites. Unfortunately, no further information is given regarding general site location and the general reader is left having to reach for a large scale OS map to find the whereabouts of individual quarries. Any further edition of this book would be greatly improved by adding the name of the nearest village or town to the captions or, even better, by including some location maps.
The slate industry in Cumbria is relatively well known and has been the subject of two recent books by Amberley Publishing (‘Slate Mining in the Lake District’ and ‘Honister Slate Mine’, both by Alastair Cameron). David Johnson’s book provides a welcome introduction to the many other types of stone quarried in Cumbria and also highlights the archaeology of an industry that until recently played such an important role in the economic and working life of this part of north-west England.