Chelveston Quarries

To the north-west of the parish, is a field which cuts into the slope and thus on a different level to its neighbours. The resulting bank is known as the Chelveston cliffs. This is the remains of one of two quarries, collectively know as the Chelveston quarries, the second being approx. 2/3rds of a mile to the north.

Chelveston (along with most of the northern half of the county) lies over a mineral belt know as Northampton Sands Ironstone. A little further to the east there is a regional dip in the mineral belts and it becomes uneconomical to extract, which is why most of the county's iron works are to the west.

The Hunsbury Hill Iron Co. had a 20 year lease to extract the ironstone ore from 1881, but Thomas Butlin & Co. Ltd took over the site around 1889. It is recorded that limestone was extracted in 1902/3. Wellingborough Iron Co. Ltd obtained a lease in 1930 to extract limestone. The quarries closed shortly afterwards.

From the quarry, the ore was transported in wagons along a horse drawn 18 inch narrow gauge tramway that ran west alongside the northern bank of the stream (Chelveston Brook) for about a mile, passing Chelveston Lodge until it met the Stanwick - Higham Ferrers road. From there it was conveyed by horse & cart to Irthlingborough station, where a ramp was provided so the carts could tip their loads into railway wagons for transit to Butlin's furnaces at Wellingborough.

The late Eric Tonks, author of The Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands: Part IV The Wellingborough Area published by Runpast Publishing in May 1990 is acknowledged as the source of the above information.

1901

Thomas Carter - Stonemason

Isaac knight - Stone worker in quarry

1891

William Judd - Pit labourer

1881

Jabez Curtis Driver - Mason's labourer

James Driver - Limestone labourer

Jabal E Lawrence - Limestone labourer

Josiah Peacock - Limestone labourer

Edwin Robinson - Limestone labourer

1871

Benjamin Bull - Worker in Iron mines.