King Barrow Quarry

Overhead view of King Barrow Quarry, looking towards The Grove village area.

King Barrow Quarry (a.k.a. Kingsbarrow Quarry) is a disused site of former 19th century stone quarries, now a Dorset Wildlife Trust nature reserve on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It is located close to the area of New Ground, in the north-east corner area of Tophill. Close to the Portland Heights Hotel, Tout Quarry is also found further west over two main roads, which was transformed into a sculpture park in 1983. The quarry covers 12.2 hectares.^[1] The old quarrying methods have left a wealth of accessible geology, industrial archaeology and many places for wildlife.

Portland also has two butterfly reserves, and both are also part-working quarries too; Broadcroft Quarry and Perryfield Quarry. The former is located to the east of the village Easton and close to The Grove village, whilst the latter is located near the hamlet of Wakeham.

History and Nature Reserve status

The site is based on former quarries that were abandoned 100 years ago. In the nineteenth century there was extensive quarrying in the northern part of Portland in the King Barrow Quarry area.^[2] Originally when the area was first quarried, huge numbers of Roman coffins, human bones, querns and pottery were discovered, indicating a Roman occupation site. However, most of these were smashed up by the quarrying workers and added to the aggregate that was removed from the area.^[3]

A quern stone found close to one or two beehive cells on the site are now at Dorset County Museum, and it has been reported that various other finds were taken to the museum if they weren't destroyed. Within this region mortar and flint balls (mulling stones) were also discovered. These finds were discovered and recorded on 4 June 1898. One beehive chamber had a pot of carbonised corn grain, close to human remains. Two pear-shaped jars from the King Barrow quarry are now in Portland museum, and are possibly Iron Age or Roman. Also a wheel-made jar of Romano-British grey ware and two 2nd century dishes are probably from the same site.^[4]

Many Iron Age deneholes have been discovered on Portland through quarrying, including at Kingbarrow, Broadcroft and Coombefield. These underground structures were cut into the ground, down to a maximum of 10 feet, and were entered by a vertical shaft. The island's early agricultural workers would store valuable corn grain within the chambers, and other discoveries within certain chambers include pottery and human bones. Although the creators of these chambers remain uncertain they are likely to be left by Iron Age settlers, who also created the island's first defences around 450 BC.^[5]

Since being abandoned the area had been left to regenerate naturally, with the aid of scrub management and control of recreational activities. The quarry is an area of working faces, some benches, massive stone revetment walls for retaining waste overburden and flat-topped spoil tips. The majority of the working faces are within deep linear or sub-circular depressions. In the South-eastern part of the quarry there is a particularly deep working with a platform at the top where at least three crane bases survive.^[6]

In the extreme South-West corner of the site, at Easton Lane, is a lime kiln and associated buildings. The 19th century lime kiln became Grade Listed II in November 1984,^[7] and lay in ruin for decades, being exposed to weather and vandals. By 2002 this lime kiln was turned into a residence and craft workshop. Opposite this lime kiln is another which is larger and more complete.^[3]

Since around 2004 the quarry became a nature reserve after the then-site owners the Hansons handed the quarry over to the Dorset Wildlife Trust.^[8] The quarry then became known as King Barrow Quarries Nature Reserve, where it remains part of the Isle of Purbeck Site of Special Scientific Interest, highlighting a variety of wildlife.^[9] The quarry is also one of the few places on Portland displaying the original land height of the area.^[10] Upon the reserves creation, the area was tidied up to encourage visitors and wildlife, whilst unstable piles of stone blocks were being fixed with bags of cement.^[2][3]

Within the quarry there are relics of past industrial activities. Various blocks of partly shaped or dressed stone remain, as do pieces of tramway track. A quarryman's hut, which was used as a shelter, still remains, built into one of the retaining walls and can be found through the remaining tramway tunnel, within one of the quarry's sheltered gullies. On the eastern side of the tunnel, with its huge blocks of Roach Stone and signs of hand-tools being used on the sides, is a gully going northwards out of the reserve. This was the original route of a horse-drawn tramway that took stone from the quarry to the Merchant's Railway. This is now part of the Verne Local Nature Reserve path, which joins the original route of the Merchant's Railway down to Castletown.

Motorbiking use

Since the 1970s, the quarry became a popular area for motorbike riders as a safe place to ride. However, once the quarry was designated as a Nature Reserve, the future of the motorcyclists was in doubt and in late 2003, there were hopes of a compromise.^[3] Since becoming popular with bikers, a formal agreement to use the site for scramblers in the 1980s was created however it lapsed. Since the lapse, the quarry was informally used by bikers ever since and the then-site owners Hansons had never objected.^[8]

In the Dorset Echo issue of 3 September 2003, an article announced that a temporary truce had been agreed for the quarry, relating to motorbike riding. The temporary agreement over the use of a quarry was based between the nature groups and the newly formed Portland Motorcycle Club. Around 100 people attended a meeting last night to discuss the issues, which resulted in the scramblers being allowed to use part of the quarry while they search for a new site, while the rest of the area was to become the nature reserve. Chairman of the motorcycle club Mike Laming had stated "The meeting was very well attended and got a bit lively at one point, but most of the people there supported of the bikers. The area we need to practise is only about a third or a quarter of the quarry. I don't know how many people go there on a weekend but I'd say most of those who attended the meeting had used the quarry at some point. We don't want to cause trouble with anyone on the island, we just want something for the children to do and somewhere for them to practise a sport they love."^[8]

Wildlife

The quarry's rocky slopes, grassy pockets and sheltered gullies are all havens for wildlife, and therefore features a wide range of plants and animals, hosting flora and fauna specific to limestone soil.^[11] Described as one of Portland's prime nature habitats,^[12] the thin limestone soils have been slowly colonised by a variety of wildflowers with displays of colour in spring and early summer. Within the area, both lichens and bryophytes are plentiful, and various notable plant species include horseshoe vetch, kidney vetch and autumn gentian. King Barrow Quarries is particularly known for its blue butterflies and both adonis and chalkhill blue butterflies can be spotted, whilst the reserve's bird species include whitethroats, linnets, meadow pipits & little owls.^[1]

Among the wildlife at the reserve, an ancient forest with fossilised remains of pre-historic trees is also on site. As well as ancient trees, the disused quarry has rope stone which is full of fossils of oysters and cockles, old mining railway tunnels and ancient stone walls.^[10]

In June 2010, BBC News published an article based on quarry, titled "Butterflies thrive on disused Portland quarry site". The article stated "Long celebrated for its limestone, Portland also has a reputation for an array of butterflies, which enjoy the shelter of the now disused quarry." The article also noted a butterfly walk at taking place at the quarry.^[9]

Area

With further work to link up Portland's disused public quarries as part of the Portland Quarry Trail project, in 2010 it was decided to unblock an old tramway tunnel to provide a pedestrian walkway under the main road from Tout Quarry to Inmosthay Quarry. In addition, the route of the Merchant's Railway behind Tillycombe had been opened up as well as the tramway route into King Barrow Quarries.^[13]

Within the quarry is Waycroft Tramway Tunnel which was the last quarry tramway tunnel still accessible at both ends on Portland, until the opening of the Tout-Inmosthay Tunnel. During the late 1980s, the local people expressed concerns that this tunnel might collapse under the influence of nearby quarry blasting on working sites. However, the tunnel still survives and was strengthened in 2006 to make it safe.^[3]

For years the quarry was home to an abandoned and heavily worn, rusted remains of a car. It has removed when the site was tided up.^[14][15] Alongside the east of the reserve is an active Portland stone quarry.^[16]

References

Coordinates: 50°33′19″N 2°26′10″W / 50.5552°N 2.4360°W / 50.5552; -2.4360