Seend Ironstone Quarry and Road Cutting facts for kids

Seend Ironstone Quarry and Road Cutting is a special place in Wiltshire, England. It covers about 3 acres (1.2 hectares). This site is known as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI. It was given this special status in 1965 because of its unique geology.

The quarry holds rocks from the Lower Greensand period. These rocks contain fossils and other remains of ancient life that are not found anywhere else.

People started mining iron ore here before 1856. They dug up a type of iron ore called brown hematite. From 1860, this ore was melted down in huge blast furnaces by a man named William Sarl. His ironworks had three tall furnaces and employed 300 men. Iron smelting stopped in the mid-1870s, but quarrying continued. The ironworks were taken apart by 1890.

After World War I, the iron ore was still dug up and sent away to be melted. From the 1920s, the ore was heated at the site in a process called calcining. This removed impurities. The iron oxide from the ore was then used in plants that cleaned town gas. The quarry and works kept going until the 1960s.

Discovering Iron at Seend

Early Finds and Challenges

The story of iron at Seend goes way back. In 1666, a historian named John Aubrey found iron ore here. He said heavy rains washed away sand, and the sun made the ore shine brightly. He thought it was the richest ore field he had ever seen.

Local blacksmiths could even melt this ore in their own forges. This was unusual, as ore from other places, like the Forest of Dean, was much harder to work with. Aubrey also noted a problem: the oak trees of Melksham forest, which were needed to make charcoal for smelting, had been cut down by 1634. Because there wasn't enough wood, the iron ore was not fully used until the 1850s.

Showing Off Seend's Ore

In 1851, a big event called the The Great Exhibition took place. Samuel Holden Blackwell, an iron-master, displayed a collection of 500 iron ores there. He even paid for a chemical test of many ores, including a sample from Seend. The results were published by John Percy of the Royal School of Mines.

Before 1856, about 4,000 tons of ore from Seend were sent to the Tredegar Iron Company. The ore field itself covered 179 acres of land. The village of Seend sat on 64 of those acres.

Building the Ironworks (1856–1870)

William Sarl's Vision

In November 1856, William Sarl from London leased land to quarry the iron ore. A special railway, called a tramway, was built. It carried the ore from the quarry to Seend railway station. From there, the ore was shipped to South Wales and the Black Country for melting.

Sarl soon decided to melt the ore right at Seend. In 1857, a new company was formed to bring coal from North Wales by train. However, problems with land deals led to the company going bankrupt. Sarl bought the site back. By January 1860, he had started his first blast furnace. It produced 200 tons of pig iron.

The furnace likely used a method called 'hot blast' to make iron more efficiently. Sarl faced challenges finding enough fuel. He arranged for coal from a colliery near Timsbury. A special oven, called a coke hearth, was built at Seend to turn the coal into coke.

Growth and Challenges

Sarl wanted to build more furnaces, coke ovens, and homes for workers. In June 1861, a new company, the Wiltshire Iron Company, was created to raise money. Samuel Blackwell became its general manager.

Between 1855 and 1861, about 77,984 tons of brown hematite were dug up. The 1861 Census shows many workers moved to Seend from other areas, including Ireland. But the company struggled and closed down in 1864. Even so, around 83,000 tons of ore were still mined in 1865-1866.

Changes and Closure (1870–1900)

New Owners and End of Smelting

A company from Glasgow took over in 1870 but closed in 1873. Later that year, Richard Berridge, a partner in a London brewery, gained control. By 1876, the ironworks at Seend seemed to have stopped operating.

From 1871 to 1874, 86,443 tons of ore were quarried. The ironstone quarries continued to work on and off. In 1884, people complained that Pelch Lane was being damaged by the constant hauling of iron ore. The ironworks were taken apart, and the machinery was sold in 1889. That same year, Kelly's Directory noted that "Iron ore is found here in abundance and until recently was largely worked."

Later Uses of Seend Ore (1905–1960s)

Ore for War and Gas

In 1905, a company from Midsomer Norton bought the property. They dug up ore for several years, sending most of it to South Wales. During the First World War, an overhead cable system was built. It carried ore in large iron buckets down to the railway station. Boys would even get free rides up the hill in the empty buckets!

After 1920, the iron ore found a new use. Iron oxide, taken from the ore, was used in gas purification plants. These plants used the iron oxide to clean impurities from coal gas (town gas). The 'New Seend Ironworks' heated the ore to remove earthy parts. Then, it was shipped to big cities like London, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Swansea.

Mining increased again between 1939 and 1945. In 1953, the Westbury and Seend Ore & Oxide Co. Ltd. continued the work. Iron oxide was also used to make paint. The quarry kept operating until the 1960s.

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