User:Dougsim/St Bees Quarries

In the locality of St Bees, Cumbria, there are many quarries which have been used for the extraction of the red permian sandstone which is so characteristic of the region. Some quarries are still active, and they are listed below.

Geology
The St Bees red sandstone is composed of desert sand, and is about 220 Million years old. It extends from Barrowmouth Bay in the north as far as The stone has a warm red colour, is durable and easy to work, and has regained its popularity over the last few decades as a building material both for plain walling and architectural features.

Early use
The earliest red sandstone stone building in the St Bees area is St Bees priory church, which was founded in about 1130 after the Norman subjugation of Cumbria. There may have been a stone structure on the site before this time, but there is no definite evidence. There are two early crosses at the Priory dating from the 10th Century, but they are of a coarse white sandstone. To the south the ancient crosses at Irton and Gosforth are carved out of the red permian sandstone. The Gosforth cross is the tallest Viking cross in the British Isles, and this may have been due to the ease of working the red sandstone. It is not known which quarries were used by the priory masons, but the nearest substantial quarry is at Fleatham Farm. Apart from the monastic buildings, the oldest existing stone house is Archbishop Grindal's house on Cross Hill dating from about 1500. Stonehouse farm, in the bottom of the valley was probably the first farm building to be stone built - hence it's name.

The Victorian Boom
Whilst quarries had supplied local needs, it was not until the coming iof the railway in 1849 that the sandstone trade became significant. A series of large quarries on "Outrigg", the direct road leading to Egremont, were started, and the stone was transported by road to the railway station, where it was loaded onto rail wagons. A big local market for the stone was at Barrow-in-Furness, where the building boom of