Lanehead Quarry, Stanhope, County Durham, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
Lanehead Quarry	Quarry
Stanhope	Civil Parish
County Durham	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

Lanehead Quarry, Weardale, County Durham, England, UK

Lanehead Quarry is a former limestone quarry located near the village of Crawleyside, 1 mile (1.6 km) N of the small market town of Stanhope. It was worked from the mid 19th century to around 1950.
DMS coordinates for the large old quarry site are: 54° 45′ 32.83″ N, 2° 1′ 11.64″

Whilst limestone is abundant in the Weardale area, it is rarely used as a building material. Instead, sandstone is the most common building material. However, there are several limestone quarry sites around Stanhope. In 1834 a new railway line was opened to carry limestone in bulk from Stanhope to Tyneside. This limestone was to be quarried from Lanehead Quarry, the earliest large-scale quarry of its kind in the dale. Limekilns were constructed in 1834 too and the production of lime not only helped farmers in Blanchland and Edmundbyers to improve their land, it also had a considerable commercial potential, which the new railway line was to help realise.

Northern Echo newspaper article (17th February 1873, Page: 3, Column: 6) regarding the Frosterley And Stanhope Quarrymen's Association:
“On Saturday evening last a meeting of a character unusual in the quiet town of Stanhope was held in the Town Hall. In this district there are several limestone quarries, known as Stanhope Burn, Lanehead, or Ashes, Newlandside, Parson Byers, Broadwood, Bishopley, Fine Burn, and others, owned by Ord and Maddison, Pease and Co., Weardale Iron and Coal Co., Bell Brothers, and other companies. At these quarries there are employed some 500 men, who formed, in August last, a union or association called The Frosterley and Stanhope Quarrymen's Association. This combination is formed for watching the interests of the members; and, from time to time, the men have got slight advances in the price per ton for winning limestone. The secretaries and committee of this society, in order that the members might have a better understanding about the complicated question of capital and labour, made arrangements for the above meeting, when Messrs. Crawford and Wilkinson, of Durham, delivered addresses on this subject. The hall was crowded with strong healthy, able-bodied men, who eagerly listened to the arguments and comparisons brought forward by the speakers. Mr. Adam Rutherford presided, and first called upon Mr. Crawford, who, after speaking of the liberty they enjoyed in meeting together to discuss the question of their position, adverted in strong terms to the system of combination as a means of securing the position the workmen ought to hold. Union was the watchword of the speaker; and after giving illustrations of what it had done for the Durham pitman, enquired if his hearers, the quarrymen of Stanhope and Frosterley, were taking the position they ought to take. Speaking of the hours the men of Stanhope worked, he said that they could not enjoy life when working long hours. Shorter hours and more pay were what was wanted, arguing that the more hours they wanted, the less money they got proportion. If the position of the quarrymen of Frosterley and Stanhope was not a right one they were themselves to blame, as they had the power in the means of combination to better their position. The speaker wisely remarked that men whilst in health and strength should be in a position to provide something for old age, and illustrated this with an instance come under his own observation of an old man who had worked 60 years in the pits, begging from door to door. Mr. Wilkinson spoke in a similar strain, giving reasons why men combine, illustrating his arguments by instances of combination or unions amongst the animals of the forest and prairie, and fishes in the deep sea. The meeting was conducted throughout in perfect order, and after a vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Fea Philipson towards the speakers, who had come to give them their views on capital and labour, and a vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting broke up.”

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