Monument record 15212 - Conker Cave, Hillside, Helsby

<1> Various, Written Communication to the HER, 27/07/2020 (Written Communication). SCH3756.

Sand hole extended by the Tweedale family in the 19th century. Exceptional Volume.

Two narrow entrances 3m wide, partially blocked and caged.

Interior width approx 36m
Interior height up to 6m
Interior depth (form front to back) up to 25m

<2> Sandstone Ridge Trust, 2020, The Sandmen of Helsby, 27/07/2020 (Report). SCH8938.

One of the most remarkable feats of cottage industry to be seen along the entire length of the Sandstone Ridge is the “Conker Cave” at Hill Road North in Helsby. On a small plot of land, once known as “Cobbler’s Wife”, there is a cavern carved out by hand to extract a particularly fine white sand. This sand had a variety of uses but was probably used in greatest quantity during the eighteenth century for spreading on and scouring cottage floors, a practice that lasted well into the nineteenth century.

Today the entrances to the cave are on private land, caged and locked, and the cave is monitored by the Cheshire Bat Group. Quarrying activity once left a large amount of spoil in front. This has been levelled but has resulted in the entrances being partially blocked, giving access down a fairly steep internal slope, over the spoil, into the cave. The “pillar-and-stall” technique of hand excavation has been employed, resulting in a clover-leaf of rooms, but what sets this cave apart from others on the Ridge is the remarkable height of the ceiling which reaches in places up to six metres. Most sand caves on the Ridge are only as high as a tall man can reach to scrape but here it feels as though an entire hill has been hollowed out. It leaves the overburden very thin in places and threatens some danger of ceiling collapse.

Indiscriminate mining of sand by local people would probably have been taking place in this area for centuries but the movement towards enclosure resulted in 1797 in this plot being designated as common land specifically for the extraction of sand. The Tithe map tof 1846 reveals that Cobbler’s Wife was, by then, leased to a Charles Tweedale.

Census of 1851 records Charles' son, Billy Tweedale as a sand dealer. An article in the Cheshire Observer of 1869 describes an emcounter with Billy which describes him as a "Sand and Rubbing Stone dealer"

By 1881 the sandworkings appear to have been abandoned as the census records Billy, his mother and sister as residents of the Dutton Workhouse. The demand for sand was reduced by the introduction of washable linoleum flooring

There were sand holes throughout the length of the Sandstone Ridge. Most have disappeared or their original function forgotten. It is rare to find records of actual individuals and their families who depended on this dangerous and low-status industry.

<3> Sandstone Ridge Trust, Sandstone Ridge Trust, https://www.sandstoneridge.org.uk/beneath-ridge/conker-cave-tweedales-sand-men-of-helsby.html (Web Site). SCH8931.

Full article with greater detail about the Tweedale family and photographs of the cave