Heddon Quarries

Quarrying of sandstone, which outcrops around the village, especially on the Common,  for building puposes probably had a long history in Heddon on the Wall. In Roman times, a local source of quality stone would have been needed both for the curtain wall, its associated milecastles and turrets, and nearby forts. In later times, where Roman stone couldn't be reused, local quarrying would have supplied material to build houses, farmsteads and the church. Much of the structure of the old vilage is stone built.

The Romans were well aware of the quality of the stone from the Heddon quarries for as well as its use in building Hadrian's Wall, it was transported down river for use in the forts of Segedunum (Wallsend) and Arbeia (South Shields). It was used in particular for special quality masonry, including stones for dedications and altars. It was used for the colonnades of the headquarters building, the drains and the huge strong-room blocks beneath the Sacellum.

The vicar and churchwardens of St Andrew's registered their right to remove stone from the whole of Heddon Common for the repair of the church and other buildings and walls owned by the church.

The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal (1839) p.379 records that St Nicholas' Cathedral in Newcastle was built in the 14th century in stone very similar to that from Heddon quarry but much decomposed. Parts were restored in the 18th century with the same stone, already decomposing.

It has been shown that sandstone from Segedunum and Arbeia, originally quarried by the Romans, was reused in the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman phases at St Paul’s, Jarrow and at St Peter’s, Wearmouth (Wearmouth & Jarrow: Northumbrian Monasteries in an Historic Landscape by Sam Turner, Sarah Semple, Alex Turner, 2013). Perhaps that used in St Nicholas' Cathedral had a similar origin.

Some details of the transport of stone from Heddon quarries in the waggonway era has recently come to light thanks to the research of Alan Clothier in his book, Beyond the Blaydon Races.

If quarried stone was to be moved any distance it was usually on horse-drawn carts or wains along often difficult early tracks, impassable in times of bad weather. The development of waggonways serving the collieries of Wylam, Heddon and Throckley in the mid 18th century would provide a new transport opportunity, whereby stone could be moved to the staiths on the River Tyne at Lemington for onward transport down-river using keels or barges. Initially the waggons on this system were also horse-drawn but from about 1814 steam locomotives were being used locally. The Wylam waggonway route was eventually adopted by the North Wyam, Heddon, Newburn and Scotswood loop of the Newcastle to Carlisle Railway.

In 1810, Charles William Bigge had sold his estate at Heddon to George Bates.

In January 1837, James Hall, agent to Charles Blackett the owner of Wylam Colliery, wrote a letter to the latter mentioning an application from George Bates (of Aydon) to lead stone over the Wylam Waggonway, from the Heddon Colliery connection, to Lemington staiths.

On 6th January 1838 the Newcastle Journal recorded the result of a rates appeal at the Winter Quarter Sessions by Messrs. Poulson and Company regarding two quarries on Heddon Common. Rates payable were reduced on finding that both quarries were located in the township of Heddon and neither in the neighboring township of Houghton & Close House.

Heddon Quarries for let. Newcastle Courant 25 May 1838 p.1

Clothier describes (p.104) that:
'A company of London Gentlemen' had taken the Heddon Quarries with a view to sending 'a good many stones to London'. Presumably these would have been taken by cart from the quarries west of the village to and down the steep lane that joined the village with Heddon Colliery and Brickworks where Bates would have them loaded onto waggons to be conveyed by the Wylam locomotive on one of its daily journeys to and from the staiths. Agreement was reached on charges and movement began in March [1837].

Heddon & Derbyshire Stone Company advert. Railway Times (8th May 1839) p.491

The above advert for stone from the Derbyshire & Heddon Stone Company gives the London address of their office and a Mr Poulson. They claim that stone from their nine quarries had been used in several locations in London, and on the London & Birmingham, Great Western, Eastern Counties and London & Brighton Railways.

In the advert below, Heddon Stone is specifically mentioned in the building of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich New Foundry and at Croydon Railway Station house, London Bridge.

Advert for Heddon Stone. The Spectator (1839), Vol.12, p.449.

19 waggons of stones were conveyed by Mr Bates along the Wylam Waggonway on 6th March 1841, possibly the first such transported. There were 197 loads sent to Lemington quay by 26 June.

Advert for workmen at Heddon Quarries. Carlisle Journal, Saturday 02 March 1839, p.1 col.5

It is not known when operation of this Heddon Quarry came to an end but Alan Clothier records a payment in the Blackett archives of £8 7/6 by Wylam Colliery on 30th April 1843 to the Heddon Stone Company for 'rails, etc.' which may indicate their giving up a siding. Also no stone is recorded as using the waggonway in 1844.

Quarry activity probably started up again, perhaps more than once, at least on part of the original site as there was a sale of Quarry Materials in 1860 and stone was still being advertised in 1862.  Quarring on the site eventually ceased all together by 1930.

Trade Secrets. A collection of practical receipts for the use of sculptors, modellers, stone masons .... compiled and edited by J. B. Robinson (1862) p.23 describes:

Heddon Sandstone — Light brown ochre, used for the Grey Monument at Newcastle. Price 6d. to 10d. per foot. Address Mr. William Pearson, Heddon-on-the-Wall, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

On the London & Brighton Railway, the Ouse Valley Viaduct built in 1841 is brick-built, but at each end of the abutment the brickwork of an ornamental square open tower is faced with stone from Heddon Quarries. This stone was also used for the stone facings of the 99 tunnels over and under the line.

Earl Grey's Monument was built in 1837-38. The five main masonry piers and the land arches of Newcastle's High Level Bridge were built with 50,000 tons of stone quarried mainly at Heddon on the Wall between 1847-49.

Pennine Lower Coal Measures sandstones from the Common at Heddon-on-the-Wall were used in the construction of Newcastle Central Station in 1850. Stainmore Formation sandstones were quarried at Heddon House and Botany Bay Plantation quarries (Building Stone Atlas of Northumberland, English Heritage, 2012).

Sale of Quarry Materials at Heddon on the Wall. Newcastle Journal, Saturday 03 March 1860, p.4 col.2

A second main quarry at Heddon on the Wall is that at Close Lea (Close Lee on old maps). It is also known locally as Killiebrigs Quarry. A small quarry in this location on the south edge of Slack's Plantation was opened by 1857.

Alan Clothier records that a railway serving it is shown on plans of the Newcastle & Gateshead Water Company in 1888 and 1889. The company's main interest would have been the Throckley Aqueduct which runs in a huge metal pipe around the west side of the quarry. The aqueduct was constructed in 1866 and its original line appears to have been adjusted by development of the quarry.

Pipeline of Throckley Aqueduct, Close Lea, Heddon on the Wall. Photo A Curtis (2013).

The quarry was owned by John Clayton and occupied by him and John Waddell. The plans show engine and boiler sheds which housed a Stephenson donkey engine and chimney. The engine was the motive power for a short inclined plane leading from the quarry to the valley bottom.

There is a report of an accident at the quarry in March 1879 in which three men were injured by gun-powder in the section on quarrying on this site.

Hartlepool Mail, Monday 24 March 1879.

The OS 2nd edition map of 1895 shows this industrial railway marked as 'Mineral Railway (disused)'. The line curved round to the east and joined the Heddon Colliery line laid closely parallel to the Wylam Waggonway eventually making a north-facing connection south of the colliery yard. The line from the foot of the incline to Lemington was worked by C J Bates of Heddon Colliery using the eastern connection of the triangular junction south of the colliery to the Wylam Waggonway.

The Evening Chronicle of 19th and 27nd September 1973 recorded the demolition of the 100 foot chimney at Close Lea Quarry on 27th. Some photographs are shown here. The chimney is said to have carried a stone inscribed with 1878, the year when operations commenced.

A masonry bridge carries the lane leading from Heddon Banks to the east side of Close House over the railway incline close to the quarry. It has an arched span of 30 feet which would have allowed for two parallel standard gauge tracks and associated sidings. The lines levelled out just north of the bridge, terminating near the working face, about 150 yards from the road bridge. The engine house stood on the steep slope about 25 yards north of the bridge, adjacent to the west side of the quarry, but there is little to see there today.

Alan Clothier (p.229) was very impressed by the stone bridge which still stands at Close Lea:

... the substantial masonry bridge constructed to carry the earlier private road and bridleway to the east side entrance of the Close House estate over the quarry railway remains an enduring testimony to the quality work of the stone masons who built it. In appearance it seems quite out of character with the nature of the country lane which crosses it. Has it, we wonder, been listed?

Bridge at Close Lea Quarry. Photo A Curtis (2015).