Frosterley
New Frosterley Quarry
Last Updated:
4 Sept 2025
Frosterley
This is a
Quarry
54.728266, -1.953872
Founded in
Current status is
Partly Preserved
Designer (if known):
Now visible earthworks and excavations
I took this one on the eastern fringes of Frosterley, and it was my first proper taste of the industrial legacy left here on the banks of the Wear. These earthworks cover the landscape round here like moles burrowing underground!
This is New Frosterley Quarry, a working excavated in 1880. Like most sites in these parts it was specially for limestone, burned with coal to produce quicklime which had universal applications and is still used today.
It was opened by the massive Pease & Partners conglomerate, who operated everything along the supply chain - collieries, limestone & ironstone quarries, brickworks and iron works up and down the north. It was this firm that dramatically changed the economic and social landscape of the whole region. They employed upwards of 30 people here digging out the stone from underneath.
It had its own internal tramway system which was connected to the mainline facing Stanhope. The limestone was very likely reversed and transported to Bishop Auckland and Darlington. It was of course also the scene of various fatal accidents. Landslips caused workers to be buried in 1890, and in 1896 an explosion of a gelatine cartridge caused the death of a man right next to his son - absolutely harrowing.
Such accidents only consolidated the need for workers to unionise, which occurred over the 1890s. A banner was unveiled by the quarrymen of this site alongside others in affiliation with the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Miners Association. It was pale gold on a dark blue ground with a rich crimson border. The motto stated "United we stand, divided we fall". Sadly there's no evidence this one still exists.
The quarry even had its own engine shed, meaning they'll have been a little engine shunting around here in times gone by. In the later days it was a petrol or diesel shunter made by Motor Rail & Tramcar Co. Beamish have a picture but it's not online! ðŸ˜
The quarry had closed around the time of WWII. Today, we're left with the waste heaps and excavations which will scar the geography for decades to come.
Listing Description (if available)
Now you can see just how important limestone was to Frosterley by the scale of the quarries in these maps from the 1890s and 1921. They were almost the size of the village itself on both its east and west end. That on the western side is the original Frosterley Quarry, but swallowed up by Rogerley Quarry before the 1890s, and hence ours being named New Frosterley. You'll notice the much smaller, early to mid 19th century workings still around them which had been left as manmade geographical features. The tramways to both quarries flanked the village on either side, though New Frosterley featured its own engine shed as seen below.
A slight throw back to the 1850s now, so we can see when these smaller quarries were still operating and before the railways consumed each side of the village (though a tramway was already in place to Frosterley Quarry). Frosterley was much more tame occupied only the main lane, though was still well acquainted with small industries. For such a small settlement it had two seperate schools, 3 churches (inc. that at Bridge End) and its own railway station.
The site of New Frosterley Quarry in July 2025. The tramway will have led under this road half a century ago.
Frosterley Quarry in the 1980s, only a short time after abandonment. With thanks to Richard Sims (@BradshawLSWR)
The engine shed in situ in 1980, sometime after closure. With thanks to Richard Sims (@BradshawLSWR)