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Description and History of Site:-

Arcow is a large quarry cut into steeply-dipping Silurian strata along the eastern edge of the upland area called Moughton. It has been worked in a series of benches and has the full range of crushing and screening plant turning out aggregate and roadstone. The late 19th-century rail link from the Settle-Carlisle Railway, which was taken out in the 1970s, has been reinstalled and was opened to traffic in January 2016. Arcow Quarry itself is currently 'standing' - not in active quarrying use - but planning permission is to be submitted later in 2016 to extend its life. Currently, crushed stone from Dry Rigg Quarry is transferred by lorry from Dry Rigg to the Arcow rail facility. Both quarries are now operated by Tarmac.Arcow began at some point in the 18th century as two small discrete quarries at the foot of the hillside producing "Blue Slate" flagstones. In 1878 both were taken over by a partnership which soon sold out to the Ribblesdale Lime & Flag Quarry Co. Ltd which began trading in 1882, but the company concentrated on exploiting the limestone Foredale Quarry (q.v.). In the 1930s Arcow and Foredale were subsumed within Settle Limes and the rail link to Foredale was extended into Arcow to despatch crushed stone. In 1948 planning consent was obtained for a 3.25ha extension to the area of Arcow to boost output from 40,000t to 70,000t per year with new crushing and screening plant installed to produce rail ballast, roadstone and general aggregate. A year later permission was obtained to widen the quarry entrance to permit road access to the site (hitherto it had been by rail only). In 1963 ICI Mond, which had bought out Settle Limes two years earlier, sold Arcow to what became the Arcow Granite Co. Ltd, a subisdiary of Hillhead Hughes of Buxton, along with Foredale Cottages. This new company obtained a 50-year lease from the landowner. In 1965 further consent was obtained to extend quarry activities to the east, swallowing up Arcow Farm. New plant was erected at the same time (which is still in situ), and annual output reached 100,000t in 1965. By 1969 Tarmac owned Arcow and further expansion has taken place since then with new consents obtained in 2004 and 2011.
In the 1970s Arcow employed 40 men. By 1972 it was turning out 200,000t per year and sicne 1975 c. 300,000t of crushed stone per year.
Originally known as "arco (sic) wood quarry".
Planning consent for the quarry is valid until 2029, hvaing been mothballed from June 2015 to December 2016. With the new consent 3.1m tonnes of stone can be removed at an annual rate of 250,000-300,000 tonnes, and the quarry can be deepened by up to 26m with no extension of its footprint. The new rail link serving Arcow and neighbouring Dry Riqq Quarry has reduced road dispatches by 60 per cent.

Further Reading and References:-

Tarmac Archive. Hillhead Hughes. Minutes of the meeting of directors held at the officies of Hughes Bros (DG) Ltd, July 10 1962.

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Key Words :- quarry silurian roadstone

Viewing the Site :- no public access. Visible from public right of way to east of quarry and from Open Access land on Moughton

Address :- Horton-in-Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire
Grid Ref :- SD 80292 70559
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.130499 , Long -2.303088
Local Authority :- Craven District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Operational site, in use for original purpose
Site Dates :- first known from 18t - still operational
Contributor :- David Johnson - 4 April 2016

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