Description and History of Site:-
This is a large quarry which has been worked for centuries in different horizontal directions with working faces of variable height and with waste heaps sited in worked-out parts of the quarry. In the south-eastern corner a deeper working is now water filled. Much of the quarry has returned to nature with quite dense tree and scrub growth making it difficult to gain an overall impression of the site. Working faces range from 5-20m in height. The quarry is c. 200m x 100m in area. Three lime kilns that were here pre-1850 have long since been quarried away but a later, and very unusual, twin-kiln remains more or less intact along the southern edge. Buildings related to the site's last use have been converted to agricultural use as a farm is now based within the quarry. The site is first recorded in an estate rental ledger from 1716 which noted 'Johnson's kiln in Manibus Dom', meaning running of the the kiln had been taken back in hand from the limeburner, Johnson, by the Thorp Perrow Estate. The next record comes from 1861 when George Green, from Huddersfield, was working as 'master limeburner' at Watlass but from 1871 successive generations of the Johnson family worked the site with four kilns operative at that date. It continued as a commercial venture supplying quicklime and crushed stone in the Masham-Bedale areas into the 20th century, and was used during World War II to supply aggregate for cement for war operations.

In April 2007 this contributor led a small team on an archaeological survey and excavation of the latest (mid-19th century?) twin kiln at the request of the current landowners - still the same Johnson family. This is a large structure 16m wide by 4.3m high with two large oval bowls (3.6m x 3.2m x 3.5m deep), three draw arches, four eyes and a very unusual (unique?) flue passage running all the way round the rear of the kiln, at ground level, with three flue passages branching off at right-angles to enter the bowls. The main flue is 15m long, the branches 1.6m, 0.75m and 1.3m.

Further Reading and References:-
Johnson, D. 2010. Limestone industries of the Yorkshire Dales. Stroud: Amberley, pp. 196-97.
A detailed report on the archaeological work was submitted in 2007 to the North Yorkshire County Historic Environment Record.

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Key Words :- disused limestone quarry and lime kilns

Viewing the Site :- no public access, vaguely visible from the B road

Address :- Scroggs Lane (B6268), Thornton Watlass, Bedale, North Yorkshire
Grid Ref :- SE 246 850
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.260081 , Long -1.623865
Local Authority :- Richmondshire District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - North Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Site derelict - some buildings remaining
Site Dates :- pre 1716 - 1940s
Record Date :- 9 January 2018

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © David Johnson