Monument record 1446/20/1 - Church Quarry

There was a small quarry on this site, as indicated on the 1775 map. This was extended and worked for stone, prior to 1872 as it is shown as disused, wooded and at its current extent on this map. The lower beds are sandstone which show good examples of herringbone pickwork (sometimes called channelling), whilst in the over-lying conglomerate beds, there are examples of wide-bore vertical shot-holes. Both the name and local tradition suggest that the quarry produced the stone for St. Phillip’s Church in Alderley Edge but the date would have to confirmed for this. There is a quarryman’s (mason’s) monogram, most likely to be a ‘J’ on the west wall at the north end. By its style it is believed to be late 18th to early 19th century. A tunnel at the back of the quarry is in fact a mine trial not a mine entrance as is marked on the 1872 Ordnance Survey map (1).

<1> 1998, Alderley Edge Landscape Project Archive, 105 (Unpublished Report). SCH4334.

<2> Timberlake, S. and Prag, A.J.N.W., 2005, The Archaeology of Alderley Edge (Book). SCH4769.