Round Barn Quarry

Round Barn Quarry is in The Naze

Round Barn Quarry initially started off as a much smaller stone delf that occupied the western half of the quarry we see today. Both the modern quarry and the old delf are located on the site of much smaller and older quarries that are of unknown date.

Working from at least the early part of the 19th Century stone was hauled down an inclined plane from Round Barn Delf, to a small railway siding in the valley below, marked Walton’s Siding on maps. It seems the quarry was disused for a while towards the end of the century.

In the early part of the 20th Century the Delf was worked once more and a tramway was installed down to the railway. I believe the old haulage and later tramway where situated above the current footpath on the tall stone structure on the left leading up to the quarry. A few years later the tramway was abandoned and a “mineral railway” was installed probably on the site of the actual footpath, below the stone causeway. More sidings where added both withing the quarry - which was extended to its current size - and at Walton’s Sidings down the hill.

At the height of it’s production the quarry contained several large buildings, some structures being supported on towers of large stone blocks. I’d imagine this was to enable stone to be loaded into train carts below. The stone blocks are probably examples of the produce of the quarry and the some of the buildings were probably used for processing and dressing stone.

Stone quarried at Round Barn included the Rough Rock or Sand Rock as it is known locally and below this the Upper Haslingden Flags; both used extensively as building materials.

Below Ground at Round Barn Quarry

In the early nineties we visited Round Barn on our way over to the Naze and noticed one tunnel entrance that looked very large at the time. We had a quick look but weren’t that brave as kids without torches.

In 2007 we visited a couple of the tunnels and underground quarries at Round Barn. The westerly entrance led to a series of closeheads connected by tunnels with much debris on the floor and in some places mud and shale slides from other entrances and surface holes. In some places wooden beams had been placed to help keep the ceiling up. There was some chav litter, graffiti and even signs of fires. In all quite dry throughout away from the mudslides.

The easterly tunnel that was the one I noticed as a kid looked much smaller, although strangely the same shape - obviously exaggerated in memory. A series of slopes led down into a damp and stinking old quarry and an abandoned working face with a small pool of water in front. The place really had an awful stink like the rock itself was rotting, we didn’t hang around long.