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Description and History of Site:-

Dry Rigg is an elongated and very deep quarry, partly cut into the natural slopes of Moughton plateau and partly cut down into underlying Silurian strata. The early workings - now 'stranded' high up at the west end of the site - were worked without benches but more recent operations utilise bench working, as the law dictates. All crushing and screening plant is sited on the floor at the eastern end of the quarry and is out of sight from most directions. The western faces show considerable geological detail including very tight anticlinal folding, cleavage and small signs of volcanic intrusions. Dry Rigg produces high-quality, skid-resistant aggregate used mainly for road and runway surfacing. It is operated by Tarmac.

A pond created by the quarry's staff has proved to be an important wildlife site and the quarry was been praised for its environmental work.A lease agreement, dated 6 February 1740, of "mines, delfs and quarries of blue slate" was signed by the landowner and two local farmers for a period of 7 years (WYAS. Morley. WYL 826. no. 172. 1739). At that time Dry Ridge (its old name) consisted of two small discrete workings - Dry Ridge itself and Combs Thorns (not to be confused with Combs Quarry q.v.). 'Slate' from both was carted to a stone mill at Silloth near Austwick.

A lease of 1 June 1847 referred to a "flag or slate quarry called Dry Ridge Quarry" (WYAS. Morley, WYL 826.no. 154. 1847). The lessees produced tombstones, troughs, cisterns, dairy slabs and boskins. From 1860-63 it was let to another person operating a "blue flag quarry" and in 1864 William Ralph took on the lease.

By 1880 Dry Ridge had been shut down and abandoned. In February 1938 it was taken on by William Walton of Cottingley which company began to build the present road access into the quarry: they turned out crushed stone products, and also took on Studfold Quarry at the same time (q.v.) (Craven Herald & Pioneer 25 February 1938). In December 1938 a new company was formed to reopen Dry Rigg, called Burnhills Sand and Gravel Co. Ltd of Helwith Bridge, Quarry Owners. This company worked the site for crushed stone. By 1968 Messrs George Greenwoood & Sons operated the site and this was part of the Redland Group. New crushing and screening plant and storage bins were then installed by Greenwoods and stone was transferred from the quarry to the plant using two Ruston-Bucyrus 22RB shovels and five Foden half-cab dumpers which indicate the scale of operations here. It was all state of the art plant. Redland plc acquired Dry Rigg in 1964 and this company was bought out in 1998 by the French company Lafarge, later operating as Lafarge Tarmac, but in 2015 Lafarge pulled out of the UK and Tarmac was resurrected under the ownership of the Irish company CRH.
Dry Rigg has planning permission to operate until December 2021 but a major condition was that half of annual output over the 10-year period of the extension had to be dispatched by rail (q.v. Arcow Quarry). Thus, this proportion of crushed stone is trucked from Dry Rigg to the rail facility in Arcow.
Planning consent for the quarry is valid up to 2021.

Further Reading and References:-

Anon. 1968. 'Gritstone Quarrying in Yorkshire. New Processing Plant at Dry Rigg Quarry' The Quarry Managers' Journal, April, pp. 154-59.

Mitchell, W.R. 1985. 'The Exploitation of the Horton Flags - Considered as an Example of Industrial Archaeology'. Field Studies 6, pp. 237-51.

Blackburn, K, Ineson, P R and Romano, M. 1997. 'Dry Rigg Quarry, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Minerals Industry International May, pp. 16-22.

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Key Words :- silurian hardstone quarry

Viewing the Site :- Visible from public right of way on west side of the quarry; two public viewing points on the NE and SW side of the quarry; four interpretation panels in place. Public access is also possible by arran

Address :- Horton-in-Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire
Grid Ref :- SD 80201 69425
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.120304 , Long -2.304407
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 :- 1st known date 1740 - still operational
Contributor :- David Johnson - 5 April 2016

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