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Wickersley, Quarries, and Quarrymasters

In 1858 there were in Wickersley and neighbourhood 30 quarries belonging to the following proprietors: 13 to Wm. Holt Yates; 3 to Sir F. Sittwell; 3 to G. S. Foljambe, Esq.; 2 to J. Fullerton, Esq.; 1 Bosvelle, Esq.; 1 to Rev. J. Aldred; 1 to Rev. J. Foster; 1 to General Spencer; 1 to J.Shackles, Esq., attorney of Hull; 1 to Jennings, Esq.; 1 to Mr. Downs; 1 to Mr. Shore; 1 to Mr. Law; 23 of the above were in Wickersley, and 7 were situated from a mile to two miles to the north-east of Wickersley.

By 1871 there were 28 quarry owners; 64 quarry masons; 1 stone mason; 8 masons; 6 quarry labourers; 1 mason fueler and 12 apprentices. These 120 men were 33% of the males in Wickersley. Of the 28 quarry owners, 13 employed no labourers.

 

The village gave it's name to the Wickersley rock which underlies a large part of the area. This hard brown sandstone was used to construct buildings locally, but became more widely used as grindstones for the cutlery industry, based in Sheffield.

The Freestone Quarries to the south of the village and to the north-west were the sites of a once thriving industry in an otherwise agricultural area. The grindstones apart from being used locally were also transported to foreign countries. 5000 grindstones of various sizes from 1 to 6 foot in diameter, were sent each year by land carriage to Sheffield.

The Cutler's Company of Sheffield, acquired quarries for the production of grindstone. In the 1760s the Company acquired three properties in Wickersley, costing £745. Private individuals managed the quarries and paid rent to the Company. Wickersley was rented at £32 a year and was finally sold off in 1826 for £96

Grindstones

These were supplied for use by the Sheffield Cutlers and Edge-tool makers, and the workers in Polished Steel, such as Saws, Fenders, Stove-Fronts, as well as for the grinding of edged tools.

Freestone of good quality and of a beautiful colour was extensively sought. The grit, was described as fine, middling or course:

Local Quarries

Wickersley Products and Prices

Grindstones
3 inches to 14 inches diameter - 4d. each
36 inches - 3s.6d.
3 feet 4 inches - 5s.
3 feet 8 inches - 6s.6d.
4 feet - 8s.
4 feet 2 inches - 9s 6d.
4 feet 4 inches - 14s. 3d.
Up to 5 feet were 8d. per inch advance
From 5 feet to 5 half feert - 10d. per inch advance
From 5 half to 6 feet - 12d. per inch advance
From 6 feet to 6 halffeet - 18d. per inch advance
From 6 half to 7 feet - an advance of 2s. 6d. on each inch in diameter.

Very few stones larger than 7 feet were made.

Ashlar faced stone
This was sold at 9d. and 10d. per foot.
Paving stones or flags
Flat beds of stone which naturally split up or rise in the quarry, so plane and flat, useful for paving footpaths, yards, outhouses and even houses. Little labour was involved.
Hewn paving 21d. per yard
Super faced, 15d.
Unfaced.
Stack-Posts and Caps
Also produced at Wickersley, round and neat stones were cut, like cheeses in shape, and sold for building:in front of long cattle sheds, Cart hovels etc.,
the round pillars were sold at 1s. per foot in height, including caps, posts or piers.
Cisterns and Troughs
The perfect Freestones were applied to the making of Cisterns and Troughs, hewn out of the solid stone. The larger and deeper, were used for holding water for domestic purposes, others of a medium size, for supplying cattle with water, and smaller ones for pig-troughs.

The 30 to 150 gallon would cost 4d. per gallon, they were round, square or made to order depending on their situation.

At North Anston Quarry and at Pecks Mill also known as Dog-Kennel Quarry, South Anston, large Rolling or Edge Stones for the crushing of Rape-seed, linseed, making of gunpowder were prepared, some of which weighed six to eight tons. From South Anston they were loaded into boats on the Chesterfield Canal and conveyed to the River Trent and shipped at Stockwith, Nottinghamshire.

The Wickersley stones were reputed at Sheffield not to heat the tools so much as other other Grindstones did.

Some particular beds in the rocks of this area were the kind of grit used for rubbers or course whetstones for sharpening of scythes. Scythe-Stone was made at Harthill much of which was sent to the southern counties.At Harthill they were made 11 inches long, square ones were sold at 10s. and round ones at 12s. per hundred. At Harthill, grindstones 3 feet diameter were sold at 11s. each

In 1848 stone for the new Houses of Parliament was supplied by Anston Quarry.

Hazards and lifespan

At Wickersley, stones are obtained which heat so little and are processed by 'dry grinding' which is of the most destructive nature to the men employed; the sharp particles of iron constantly flying about, find their way to the lungs, and ultimately produce incurable complaints. Grinder's Asthma was a fatal enemy, in the continual inhalation of minute particles of dust from the stones. In a body of men, consisting of several thousands, in a single town, very few of them reached the age of forty-five. Indeed, among the fork-grinders, it was very rare to meet with an individual thirty-six years old, especially when the grinding was transferred from water to the steam wheels. The men often worked in large lofty rooms, which did not contain more than six or eight stones, were open at the roof, often without windows, and generally with the large cogwheel in the inside; thus, such a complete circulation of the air was effected, that the small quantity of dust raised from these few stones was soon carried away. For several months during each summer, they could not work more than four or five hours a day, owing to a scarcity of water.

Although taking precautions, grinders were killed or injured by the breaking of their stones, fragments of which were known to drive the slates off the roof of the building. Stones were liable to fly on various accounts, either because they contained some fracture in their substance, or by being allowed to become alternately wet and dry, but most frequently from too hard wedging about the axle, in which case the wood swelling with the moisture cracks the stone.

The main road through Wickersley and Bramley had been part of an important export route from Sheffield to its nearest river port at Bawtry, this was until the River Don was improved to Tinsley in 1751. The road was authorised to become a turnpike in 1760.

Map of Pinchwell Field, Wickersley, 1850s In May, 1777, Robert Roddis and William Porter of Whiston, masons, leased to Joseph Bower, John Turner, John Barlow of Sheffield, Cutlers, and William Birks of Sheffield, Razorsmith, a delph quarry in Pinchwell Field, Wickersley and another delph quarry lying westward, for the residue of a term of 21 years, for £150.

Map of Quarryfields Wickersley, 1850s


This map gives an idea of the numbers of quarries at Wickersley in the Quarryfields area, in about 1850

Quarrymen

The following is a list of names of men associated with quarries. From 1716, it is hard to say who were the quarry owners and who were the employees. At this time there is no information about any quarry in Wickersley. Stone would be dug out of the ground, some were probably digging stone from their gardens to make a living.

1716-1738
1738-1765
1763
1780-1816

Of these, only 3 - Robert Roddis, William Porter and the Sheffield Cutlers Company had deeds relating to quarry ownership.

The rest called themselves quarry owners but most likely were of little importance. They would probably have been called stone getters and stone cutters.
Quarrymen Bramley, Wickersley 1833

In 1848 there were ten quarries in Wickersley area providing employment for 100 men.

Quarry Owners 1850
Quarrymen Bramley, 1862
Quarrymen Wickersley, 1871
Quarrymen 1879

Dissolved Partnerships

1st March, 1820. C & E. Shaw, Stonemasons.

22nd June, 1842. Walker & Shore, Masons.

15th November, 1878. Styring & Baker, Quarry Owners.

John Ellis, Quarryman b.1809 Wickersley was in Rotherham Union Workhouse in 1881. Also living at RUW was Elizabeth ELLIS 33 from Bramley, and Alice Barbara ELLIS age 4 b. Wickersley

 

As times changed, many parterships were dissolved - quarry masters died young; the last recorded Quarry owners were Bell's Quarry run by John Bell; the Roddis quarries, run by Percy

Roddis, the son of Thomas and Annie; Saxton's managed by William Saxton; and John Wadsworth & Sons.

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References

Mesters to Masters: A History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, David Hey.
General View of the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire, John Farey
White's Directories
The Panorama of Science and Art: Embracing the Sciences of Aerostation, Agriculture etc, by James Smith - 1815
Turning and mechanical manipulation, by Charles Holtzapffel, John Jacob Holtzapffel
Sheffield Archives.Reference: BHD/213
The Roddis Quarries of Wickersley 1767-1962, by Leslie and Sylvia Beckett.

Text not available
General View of the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire: With ... By Great Britain Board of Agriculture, John Farey

 

Bell Quarrymasters

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