I went to look at an old corn mill, but it was empty.
However next door was the remains of a sand mill, which had some interesting stuff.
Sand has been extracted in this area since the late 1800s, with a tramway to a nearby railway line to move product out.
Maps show the tramway moving around as new areas were worked, disappearing by 1949, when trucks may have taken over.
A small shed is shown by 1965 which later seems to have become the larger sheds which are there now.
Photos are phone.
Here’s the corn mill, said to have been repurposed for generation of electricity for the sand plant.
Sand mill next door.
Around the back was an overgrown machine which after a bit of weeding turned out to be an edge runner mill.
These things were, and still are, used to grind and crush all manner of materials from metal ores to foodstuffs.
This is a mobile one with wheels - no sign of an engine for turning the machinery though.
The smaller of two more edge runners in the partially collapsed main sheds.
The crushed sand went out grills in the bottom falling down into a collection bay below - looking back up at the grills.
Adjacent is a Consolidated Pneumatics (CP) air compressor.
More Brookhirst switch gear - Brookhirst was a local (Chester) company - for the larger electrically-driven mill.
Rear view of the mill showing the collection bays and one of the pieces of rusty equipment lying around.
I’ve found very little information on this quarry or when it stopped working.
However sand is still being extracted on a small scale from another quarry a few hundred yards away although the equipment there is all modern (a digger and a scalper).
However next door was the remains of a sand mill, which had some interesting stuff.
Sand has been extracted in this area since the late 1800s, with a tramway to a nearby railway line to move product out.
Maps show the tramway moving around as new areas were worked, disappearing by 1949, when trucks may have taken over.
A small shed is shown by 1965 which later seems to have become the larger sheds which are there now.
Photos are phone.
Here’s the corn mill, said to have been repurposed for generation of electricity for the sand plant.
Sand mill next door.
Around the back was an overgrown machine which after a bit of weeding turned out to be an edge runner mill.
These things were, and still are, used to grind and crush all manner of materials from metal ores to foodstuffs.
This is a mobile one with wheels - no sign of an engine for turning the machinery though.
The smaller of two more edge runners in the partially collapsed main sheds.
The crushed sand went out grills in the bottom falling down into a collection bay below - looking back up at the grills.
Adjacent is a Consolidated Pneumatics (CP) air compressor.
More Brookhirst switch gear - Brookhirst was a local (Chester) company - for the larger electrically-driven mill.
Rear view of the mill showing the collection bays and one of the pieces of rusty equipment lying around.
I’ve found very little information on this quarry or when it stopped working.
However sand is still being extracted on a small scale from another quarry a few hundred yards away although the equipment there is all modern (a digger and a scalper).
