Location | |
---|---|
Location | Helwith Bridge, Horton-in-Ribblesdale |
County | North Yorkshire |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 54°07′12″N2°18′14″W / 54.120°N 2.304°W |
Production | |
Products | Gritstone (Greywacke) |
Production | 20,000 tonnes (22,000 tons) |
History | |
Opened | 1938 |
Closed | 2035 | (Projected)
Owner | |
Company | Tarmac |
Website | Official website |
Year of acquisition | 2015 |
Dry Rigg Quarry is a quarry at Helwith Bridge in North Yorkshire, England, located within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The quarry produces a hard-wearing gritstone (also known as greywacke) which is listed as being nationally important for road building, and is one of four in the Yorkshire Dales National Park that produces this type of aggregate. The quarry operations have come under public scrutiny due to the amount of road traffic, leading to some of the output from Dry Rigg being moved from the adjacent railhead at Arcow Quarry. The quarry is situated in Upper Ribblesdale some 1.9 miles (3 km) south of Horton-in-Ribblesdale, and 5 miles (8 km) north of Settle.
The current Dry Rigg workings were established in 1938 by a Mr Walker of Cullingworth, and the expansion of the quarry absorbed the former Combs Thorn Quarry, which was located to the west of Dry Rigg. [1] Earlier workings are shown on mapping from 1909, when several quarries which are now defunct, also appear. [2] Combs Quarry was started in the 18th century, but by 1880, quarrying had ceased, however, Dry Rigg was opened in 1938 to provide an "insatiable demand for aggregate". [3] Initially, Dry Rigg supplied flagstone to the towns and cities across Northern England, [4] though most was used locally around the area. The site is 1.9 miles (3 km) south of Horton-in-Ribblesdale, and 5 miles (8 km) north of Settle. [5] [6]
The gritstone (greywacke) [7] produced at Dry Rigg is known as being nationally important for its skid-resistant properties in road building, with Dry Rigg being one of 15 sites in England and Wales that can produce stone to a high PSV (Polished Stone Value - PSV is the measure of how skid-resistant the stone is). [8] The stone worked at Dry Rigg is part of the Horton Formation, a gritstone laid down in the Silurian period, and typically rates at 65 in its PSV. [9] [10] Previous uses of stone from the Combs Thorn (Dry Rigg) quarry area was as a flagstone, with the area being noted for its "blue flag and slate stones". [11] The abundance of this rock led to a proposal to construct a canal between Settle and Lancaster in 1774, though this did not come to fruition. [12] Dry Rigg is one of four quarries in the Yorkshire Dales National Park that produces High Specification Aggregate (HSA), the others being Horton Quarry, Ingleton Quarry, and Arcow Quarry, the last of which is located close to Dry Rigg. [13]
Since its opening in 1938, stone from Dry Rigg has been used in the road-building programme that was ongoing through Britain at that time. The owners abandoned the quarrying of flagstones in favour of crushed rock. Aggregate from Dry Rigg has been used for surfacing runways at Manchester Airport and the Falkland Islands, both carriageways of the M6 at Tebay in 1971, the Newbury Bypass in Berkshire, and at airstrips in the Orkney Isles. [14] [15] [16] The quarry covers an area of 26 hectares (64 acres) and was 322 feet (98 m) deep in 2021. [17] In 2016, the connection to the Settle-Carlisle Line was reopened to Arcow Quarry. This allows for half the output from Arcow and Dry Rigg to be railed away from the quarries rather than trucks on the roads through the dales. [18] [19] As the quarry is situated in Upper Ribblesdale, the normal route out was via the B6479 road through the dale. The opening of the rail link is estimated to have cut an annual average of 16,000 lorry journeys from the local road system. [20]
The quarry is worked by blasting, then crushing the rock, which yields 20,000 tonnes (22,000 tons) on average per year. [10] Output permissions from the quarry have dropped significantly since 2013, with the typical output from 2011 and 2012 being 320,000 tonnes (350,000 tons) and 260,000 tonnes (290,000 tons) respectively. [21] In 2021, planning permission was extended for the quarry with over 4,000,000 tonnes (4,400,000 tons) of gritstone expected to be quarried over the 13 years from 2022, allowing restoration in 2035. Afterwards, water will be allowed to fill the 738 feet (225 m) quarry, which is expected to become full some 30 years later. [22] However, the quarry extension plan was left undetermined by a High Court ruling in 2023, which stated that "...the [Yorkshire Dales National Park] Authority had failed to consider the impact of the development of the intrinsic character of the Yorkshire Dales National Park." The appeal to extend the life of the quarry will go before another planning committee meeting in April 2023. [23]
The quarry lies adjacent to Swarth Moor SSSI, a bog moorland that was previously cut for fuel. [27] [28] Swarth Moor is noted for its butterfly species, of which 16 different types have been observed, including the Small pearl-bordered fritillary, with Swarth Moor being a key site for this species in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. [29] Dust from the quarrying process has altered the hydrology of Swarth Moor, leading to it drying out in the process. Natural England re-wetted the site in 2019, improving the site for great-crested newts and raining the footpath that runs between Swarth Moor and Dry Rigg. [30] [31] The quarry itself is host to over 20 species of birds, includes ravens, sand martins, and lapwings. [32]
The Pennines, also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "backbone of England" because of its length and position, the range runs from Derbyshire and Staffordshire in the North Midlands to Northumberland in North East England, near the Anglo-Scottish border. The range starts near the valley of the River Trent to the south and extends northwards across the Peak District, South Pennines, Yorkshire Dales, and North Pennines, ending at the Tyne Gap. Beyond the gap are the Border Moors and Cheviot Hills, which are included in some definitions of the range.
The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or dales, in the Pennines, a range of hills in England. They are mostly located in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into Cumbria and Lancashire; they were historically entirely within Yorkshire. The majority of the dales are within the Yorkshire Dales National Park, created in 1954. The exception is the area around Nidderdale, which forms the separate Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The Settle–Carlisle line is a 73-mile-long (117 km) main railway line in northern England. The route, which crosses the remote, scenic regions of the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines, runs between Settle Junction, on the Leeds–Morecambe line, and Carlisle, near the English-Scottish borders. The historic line was constructed in the 1870s and has several notable tunnels and viaducts such as the imposing Ribblehead.
Craven was a non-metropolitan district in the west of North Yorkshire, centred on the market town of Skipton.
The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for 268 miles (431 km) from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kirk Yetholm, just inside the Scottish border. The path runs along the Pennine hills, sometimes described as the "backbone of England". Although not the United Kingdom's longest National Trail, it is according to The Ramblers, "one of Britain's best known and toughest".
Ingleborough is the second-highest mountain in the Yorkshire Dales, England. It is one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, and is frequently climbed as part of the Three Peaks walk. A large part of Ingleborough is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserve and is the home of a new joint project, Wild Ingleborough, with aims to improve the landscape for wildlife and people.
Horton in Ribblesdale is a small village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated in Ribblesdale on the Settle–Carlisle Railway to the west of Pen-y-ghent.
Goathland is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is in the North York Moors national park due north of Pickering, off the A169 to Whitby. It has a station on the steam-operated North Yorkshire Moors Railway line.
Horton-in-Ribblesdale is a railway station on the Settle and Carlisle Line, which runs between Carlisle and Leeds via Settle. The station, situated 47 miles 40 chains (76.4 km) north-west of Leeds, serves the village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Craven in North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern.
Millstone Grit is the name given to any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the British Isles. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills. Geologists refer to the whole suite of rocks that encompass the individual limestone beds and the intervening mudstones as the Millstone Grit Group. The term Millstone Grit Series was formerly used to refer to the rocks now included within the Millstone Grit Group together with the underlying Edale Shale Group.
Ribblesdale is one of the Yorkshire Dales in England. It is the dale or upper valley of the River Ribble in North Yorkshire. Towns and villages in Ribblesdale include Selside, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Stainforth, Langcliffe, Giggleswick, Settle, Long Preston and Hellifield. Below Hellifield the valley of the river is generally known as the Ribble Valley.
Swinden Quarry is 0.62 miles (1 km) north of the village of Cracoe, and 1.9 miles (3 km) south-west of Grassington in North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by LaFarge Tarmac. The former Skipton-Grassington railway line still serves this location, and in railway terminology, the site is known as Rylstone Quarry.
Kingsdale is a valley on the western edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park in northern England. The name Kingsdale derives from a combination of Old Norse and Old English which means The valley where the cows were kept. Humans were active in Kingsdale from 6,700 BC onwards. Evidence of fire-pits used by hunter-gatherers have been found in the dale.
A Dales High Way is a long-distance footpath in northern England. It is 90 miles (140 km) long and runs from Saltaire in West Yorkshire to Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria, roughly parallel to the line of the Settle and Carlisle Railway.
The Worth Valley is a geographic area in West Yorkshire, England, that extends eastwards from Crow Hill and Oxenhope Moor, providing drainage for the River Worth for nearly 10 miles (16 km) to the River Aire. It is a side valley to Airedale, with the River Worth being a major tributary of the River Aire. The Worth Valley was important for its contribution to the textiles industry of the West Riding of Yorkshire and was furnished with several reservoirs to allow mills to operate within the valley. Most of the reservoirs are still in use into the modern day.
Horton Quarry is a limestone quarry near to Horton-in-Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, England. The quarry, which is some 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Settle, has been operating since at least 1889, and produces limestone for a variety of purposes. Stone used to be exported from the quarry by rail, but now leaves by lorry, although there are plans to re-instate the railway sidings. The quarry used to produce its own lime by roasting the limestone in big kilns on the site, but the last of these were removed in the 1980s. Since 2000, the quarry has been owned and operated by Heidelberg Materials UK.
Crummackdale,, is a small valley north of the village of Austwick in the Craven District of North Yorkshire, England. The Valley is drained by Austwick Beck, which flows into the River Wenning, which in turn heads westwards to empty into the Irish Sea. Crummackdale is a narrow south west facing dale, at the south west corner of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The geology of the Yorkshire Dales National Park in northern England largely consists of a sequence of sedimentary rocks of Ordovician to Permian age. The core area of the Yorkshire Dales is formed from a layer-cake of limestones, sandstones and mudstones laid down during the Carboniferous period. It is noted for its karst landscape which includes extensive areas of limestone pavement and large numbers of caves including Britain's longest cave network.
Stackhouse, is a hamlet near to Giggleswick on the western bank of the River Ribble in North Yorkshire, England.
Chapel-le-Dale is west-facing valley in the Yorkshire Dales, England. The U-shaped valley of Chapel-le-Dale is one of the few which drain westwards towards the Irish Sea, however, the river that flows through the valley has several names with the Environment Agency and the Ordnance Survey listing it as the River Doe. However, some older texts insist the name of the watercourse through the dale is the River Greta, which runs from a point below the hamlet of Chapel-le-Dale, and onwards past Ingleton. The dale is sparsely populated with only one settlement, the hamlet of Chapel-le-Dale, which has a small chapel.
Use the slider to toggle 1909 and modern day view