
Our History
The earliest record of the quarry is an 1884 OS map which shows a small area located near the current site entrance labelled Quarry. There is no record of what the quarry was called then but for a brief period in the Quarry's history the site took its name from the adjacent highway called ‘Broad Road’. This name did not last for long, and locals always prefer and refer to the site as ‘Westbury Quarry’ a name still much used today.
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Originally opened in the 1930s for quarrying limestone, local customers hauled stone away from the site by horse and cart, and during World War II Italian prisoners-of-war from the ‘Penlee Prison Camp’ at Wells were employed as quarrymen.
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The existing Gate-House Buildings were home to a family living at the rear, whilst quarry business was conducted at its front.
Although early workings of the Westbury Quarry site started before the start of the Second World War, some records claim as early as 1936-1937 no major extraction took place, and it was not until ‘William Griffiths & Co Ltd’, announced the opening of Westbury Quarries, Westbury-sub-Mendip, in a full page advert placed in the ‘Wells Journal’ on Friday 17th March 1967.
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Much acclaim was given to the ‘new quarrying equipment'. At the time, the plant cost £120,000, but including the purchase of the land, the overall cost was nearer £250,000. Initial production was 200 tons of good quality carboniferous limestone a day, but it was expected to reach 1000 tons within a few months of the new equipment entering service.
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Hanson Aggregates Plc acquired the site on the 5th May 2000 and remained as owners of the quarry and eventually ceased quarrying operations on the 27th of October 2003. The site remained dormant for some years until December 2006 when the entire site was sold to the present owners.