All the locals who have lived all their lives in the village of Baxterley refer to this as "the underground house" because no-one who lives there has the faintest idea what it is.
It IS a series of quite grandly built structures: but a house? it is not.
This one took some researching, trying to pick apart truth from fiction and old wives tales. Local Mining records gave the biggest clue.
Early in the 18th Century, a seam of high grade limestone was discovered close to the surface in an area where the immediate substrate is mainly medium grade mildly friable sandstone. The seam was mined by hand - followed down into the landscape by the cutting of four shafts at a relatively shallow downward angle in the sidewalls of the 100 foot diameter cupped depression that had been dug out of solid sandstone to a depth of approximately 20 feet. The mined limestone was drawn out after being loaded into hoppers fixed to a bogey chassis which ran on "U" section cupped rails. Remains of the rails and the winding gear can still be found on-site. The four mineshafts were deliberately stopped-up and camouflaged at some point during the mid 20th Century to stop local kids from "exploring".
Limestone was a handy find because it could be used in a number of ways in the brand new Industrial Revolution technologies in the form of quicklime - which as a blast furnace mixer purifies steel. It was also used in the glassmaking process. Plowed in and used as a soil conditioner: quicklime neutralizes harsh acidic soil and right down at the most basic level of uses: quicklime was used as a peppering by gravediggers to speed up the decomposition process. In tiny doses: it can also neutralize stomach acid and it is still used in present day indigestion remedies.
Once the limestone reached the surface, it was broken up into small chunks and burned in the large fireplaces that litter the underground buildings. This is the beginning of the process of turning the mined rock into quicklime. The limestone was heated directly on the flame until it became red hot. After 2-3 minutes at this temperature: the rock decomposes to create calcium oxide (quicklime) and carbon dioxide. After cooling: the quicklime is ground to a fine powder, bagged, and sold on.
So, there ya go.... mystery solved. But the kicker in the tale here is that this really is quite an important Heritage find - it represents a small scale early 18th Century local mining industry that bucks the local trend - since Medieval times the whole area was known primarily for large scale coal production, the site is right next to what used to be Baxterley Colliery. As it stands (only just) the Baxterley Limestone Mine and Quicklime Works only has another 10 to 20 years life left in it before what is left of the buildings collapse completely.
It IS a series of quite grandly built structures: but a house? it is not.
This one took some researching, trying to pick apart truth from fiction and old wives tales. Local Mining records gave the biggest clue.
Early in the 18th Century, a seam of high grade limestone was discovered close to the surface in an area where the immediate substrate is mainly medium grade mildly friable sandstone. The seam was mined by hand - followed down into the landscape by the cutting of four shafts at a relatively shallow downward angle in the sidewalls of the 100 foot diameter cupped depression that had been dug out of solid sandstone to a depth of approximately 20 feet. The mined limestone was drawn out after being loaded into hoppers fixed to a bogey chassis which ran on "U" section cupped rails. Remains of the rails and the winding gear can still be found on-site. The four mineshafts were deliberately stopped-up and camouflaged at some point during the mid 20th Century to stop local kids from "exploring".
Limestone was a handy find because it could be used in a number of ways in the brand new Industrial Revolution technologies in the form of quicklime - which as a blast furnace mixer purifies steel. It was also used in the glassmaking process. Plowed in and used as a soil conditioner: quicklime neutralizes harsh acidic soil and right down at the most basic level of uses: quicklime was used as a peppering by gravediggers to speed up the decomposition process. In tiny doses: it can also neutralize stomach acid and it is still used in present day indigestion remedies.
Once the limestone reached the surface, it was broken up into small chunks and burned in the large fireplaces that litter the underground buildings. This is the beginning of the process of turning the mined rock into quicklime. The limestone was heated directly on the flame until it became red hot. After 2-3 minutes at this temperature: the rock decomposes to create calcium oxide (quicklime) and carbon dioxide. After cooling: the quicklime is ground to a fine powder, bagged, and sold on.
So, there ya go.... mystery solved. But the kicker in the tale here is that this really is quite an important Heritage find - it represents a small scale early 18th Century local mining industry that bucks the local trend - since Medieval times the whole area was known primarily for large scale coal production, the site is right next to what used to be Baxterley Colliery. As it stands (only just) the Baxterley Limestone Mine and Quicklime Works only has another 10 to 20 years life left in it before what is left of the buildings collapse completely.
