Book - Sustainable Aggregates

LEICESTERSHIRE slate industry 23
quarries often become a positive feature of
the landscape, as with age they produce a
wealth of geodiversity features and varied
habitats for wildlife and plants, as well as
providing a multitude of recreational uses.
Lorry being filled with crushed aggregate,
Cloud Hill Quarry.
Today, Bardon Hill and Cliffe Hill are
the only quarries to operate within The
National Forest, whilst older quarries are
either undergoing restoration or have
been ‘mothballed’. The quarry industry
has been vital to the socio-economic
development of the Charnwood area
of The National Forest for well over a
century now, and will continue to be so
for at least another 50 years. Abandoned
Extensive quarrying for sand and gravel
aggregates has also taken place in
Staffordshire along the Trent valley to the
south of Burton upon Trent. The quarries
here work the river terrace deposits.
Outcrops of sand and gravel deposited
by melting ice throughout The National
Forest have also been worked on a small
scale in the past.
LEICESTERSHIRE SLATE INDUSTRY
The use of Swithland Slate for building
dates back to Roman times (p.30). In the
14th century, Borough Records show that
it was used to roof major buildings in
Leicester. The actual locations of the slate
quarries are first cited in 1343, when the
Sand and gravel workings in the Trent Valley at Newbold.