TOWN QUARRY
The Town Quarry
Town Quarry has its origins in the early 1800s when it was known as Burton Dean Quarry. It was earmarked to provide materials to make and repair the roads in the township. Other quarries were already being opened along Burton Dean to supply building stone for the rapidly expanding community. The stone in this quarry above North Road is called Kirkburton Sandstone and was formed 310 million years ago in the Carboniferous period by one or more large rivers coming from mountains to the north-east.
The quarry has probably not been worked for over 150 years and has become a natural habitat for small mammals and birds. For a few years in the 1890s, it was used for the Kirkburton Musical Festival – the “Gre’t Sing”. In more recent times, an attempt was made to develop a BMX track and the Parish Council Environment Committee initiated a planting scheme. The quarry has long been used as an informal playground by the children of the village with various dens being constructed over the years.
The main path through the quarry originally gave access to the quarry itself but is now an important, well-used link between the villages. In 2018 BEG was awarded a grant by Cobbett Environment Ltd through the Landfill Communities Fund to carry out a number of improvements – seating, additional street lights, information boards and direction signs. The first information board dealing with the history of the quarry, developed with local historian Robert Carter, is sited where the path connects with North Road. Climb the path from North Road to the fork where a very welcome bench was installed. Turning right will take you to the housing area of Dene Park, where the new street lights were introduced. Turning left leads to the Local Geology Site where there is the only outcrop of Kirkburton Sandstone. A second information board, developed with West Yorkshire Geology Trust, a stone seat and planted beds of native wild flowers were introduced here. Continue along to the steps and up to the Savile Park housing estate, previously the site of Moxon’s Mill, built in 1950. There is also a set of steps leading back down to North Road which need regular attention to keep back the brambles and undergrowth. BEG volunteers regularly keep these paths and steps clear of litter and decaying leaves to ensure safe passage by all users.