Site History
The former Chair of MyPAG, Trevor Britton has researched the history of the site, and
recorded the following information.
If you know anything we could add or and maybe corrections we could make,
we would be very happy to have your comments.
recorded the following information.
If you know anything we could add or and maybe corrections we could make,
we would be very happy to have your comments.
There are two important pre-historic periods that helped form the land in and around Maes-y-Pant and were thus a major influence on its industrial history. The first is the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago, at the time when England & Wales lay on the equator, when coal was laid down from plants in hot swamps. Deep coal mining was a feature of the area around Wrexham up until the 1980s, including in Gresford. Gresford Colliery became the centre of public attention on 22 September 1934 as a result of a major explosion which killed 266 men.
The second period is the Ice Age which finished 14,000 years ago. During this time land now forming Maes-y-Pant was covered in thick ice sheets and formed the ‘Wrexham delta terrace’. The terrace was at the junction of two ice sheets, one from the Irish Sea and the other from Snowdonia. When it melted, the rivers pouring out left behind a large delta of sands and gravels, including what we see all around the quarry.
The area north of Wrexham has had many sand and gravel workings. Most are now disused. Two large disused quarry sites merge side by side in Gresford and Marford, and in fact the villages, historically separate, have also merged into one in all but name.
The northern site, now known as Marford Quarry, was opened in 1927 to provide materials for the construction of the Mersey Tunnel, but quarrying ceased in 1971, when it was close by Tarmac Ltd. The site originally contained the site of Rofft Mount, a medieval motte and bailey castle. The Great Western Railway cut around the base of the mound and there was a special railway siding just off Springfield Lane for the quarry. Gravel extraction removed all trace of Rofft Mount and Castle. Twenty-six acres of the thirty-nine acre site were bought by the North Wales Wildlife Trust in 1990(1) as the site had been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1989, primarily because of rare invertebrate species found on site. The southern site is now known as Maes-y-Pant (Hollow Field) based on the name of a field forming part of the original land nearest Pant Lane. Since 2011 it has been owned by the Maes-y–Pant Action Group Ltd (MyPAG).
In 1937, Alfred McAlpine set up its first subsidiary company, The United Gravel Company at Pant Farm, known as the Pant Farm Sandhole. Confusingly it is also referred to by McAlpines as Marford Quarry, as the site was in the former hamlet of Pant, which had been subsumed into Marford. Even more confusingly, the farm buildings for Pant Farm were situated across the road next to what is now Marford Community Centre (opposite Wood Cottage and the footpath entrance into Marford Woods). Like most construction companies, McAlpines were heavily involved in war work, for which an endless supply of sand and quarry was needed, hence their decision to set up their own operation(2). Much of the sand and gravel was used for airfields(3). Ironically, United Gravel Co bought Borras Airfield, known officially as RAF Wrexham, in 1959, as a source of sand and gravel. It was a strategic move, as gravel extraction has a finite life and in the 1970s, Pant Farm was closed and Borras was activated.
Interim Development permission was first granted on 14 December 1947 for the winning and working of sand and gravel on part of the Pant site. Planning consent for extraction of minerals across the whole of what is now Maes-y-Pant was issued on 1 September 1948. However, historic aerial photography shows quarrying activity from at least 1945, by means of benches. This is interesting, as these are used by hard rock quarries, usually working from top to bottom, in a series of layers, known as benches, because the rock deposit is normally thicker than can safely be worked as one quarry face. The quarry enlarges and expands north eastwards before 1951.
The 1954 OS map shows 3 pits on site. The most substantial was a sand pit, with a boundary adjacent to the railway embankment and extending a substantial way into the centre of the site. The second was a deeper gravel pit. This followed the contours of Pant Lane and extended into the centre of the site. A third very much smaller pit is described as an ‘other pit’ and was located below where the entrance to Quarry Brow is now. By 1958 a photo shows the western (ie adjacent to what is now Whiteway Drive) and southern corners have been graded flat. A 1966 photo shows that the benches were no longer evident, the quarry increased in size and the western corner actively quarried again. The 1968 OS map shows the site almost completely quarried with the 3 pits now one. Most of the site is depicted as a gravel quarry. The only parts not quarried are substantive areas of land at the rear of what is now Whiteway Drive and an area to the right of the entrance on Pant Lane, the boundary of which followed the contours of Pant Lane.
The two quarry companies were major employers in the area. Employees worked on the plant that washed the clay and silt from the excavated material and then separated the sand and gravel into different grades/sizes, as well as transport. The main entrance to the Pant site was via Pant Lane, and the old buildings of Hollow Field Farm were knocked down. (Hollow Field Farm was pre-Victorian, a large, stone building run latterly by the Tomlinson family. Remains of brickwork were found during the laying of footpaths on site and an old gate lintel had to be removed to lay down the car park.) However, there was an important entrance at the bottom of Whiteway Drive. Bill Hough was Transport Manager on the site from 1970 and he subsequently moved with the company to Borras. His office was near what is now the entrance to MyPag at the end of Whiteway Drive. This area and one now occupied by The Conifers were the only natural wooded areas at the time. Bill confirmed that the sand and gravel quarried was used mainly on motorway construction during his time. At the back of Whiteway Drive there were lagoons used as a water supply, which were retained by sand banks. Nobody knew what source supplied the water. When the quarry was closed, the sand banks were breached and the water allowed to drain away. At the rear of the Whiteway Drive properties there is a 2m high earth bank. This was constructed to retain and divert water if the sandy lagoon sides were breached.
Bill recalls the day he expressed to the Managing Director his concern about the risk of flooding to the Whiteway Drive properties, which led to the earth bund being made.
The Managing Director at this time was a Mr Alistair McCorquodale Kennedy. Lorna, his daughter, used to keep a horse and used an area at the back of Whiteway Drive. This is now the left hand circular route of the all abilities (green) route and is still occasionally referred to locally as the horse ménage, but it was not a business as commonly believed. When Lorna’s horse died she let the area be used by two other women, but she didn’t think the horses were being kept as she would have liked and the facility was closed. The quarry site was to be developed into a large housing site. Bill Hough was the first put his name down for a new house on the proposed development. He said they were to be very nice wooden chalet type houses. The development didn’t go ahead because it was found that the ground was moving.
He is convinced that’s why McAlpines put the trees in - to settle the ground. Apparently there are a number of ‘pipes’ on site (about an inch diameter from the description) which contained some sort of ‘tell tale’ to measure the movement. I don’t think we’ve found any of those yet!
People remember the old lagoons being breached after the quarry’s closure, and the ground regraded for planting. Many people remember Pant Farm being planted with lupins (to increase the nitrogen levels in the soil) but the site was primarily used for planting Corsican pines. We thought this was for commercial purposes, but if it was, then Bill believes they were also planted to settle the soil and prevent it from moving. In 1980, Flintshire Woodlands quoted for planting 28,000 Corsican Pine trees, 1,000 Japanese Larch trees and 33 willow cuttings. We know that in May 1980 90 kg of lupin seeds were delivered. A planning restoration consent for the planting of trees was issued on 28 October 1980, the details of which were approved on 12th March 1982.
Notes -
(1) Marford Quarry Nature Reserve North Wales Wildlife Trust
(2) Tarmac Papers: The Archives and History Initiative of Tarmac plc: Vol iii 1999 p301
(3) Wrexham Leader March 6 1992
The second period is the Ice Age which finished 14,000 years ago. During this time land now forming Maes-y-Pant was covered in thick ice sheets and formed the ‘Wrexham delta terrace’. The terrace was at the junction of two ice sheets, one from the Irish Sea and the other from Snowdonia. When it melted, the rivers pouring out left behind a large delta of sands and gravels, including what we see all around the quarry.
The area north of Wrexham has had many sand and gravel workings. Most are now disused. Two large disused quarry sites merge side by side in Gresford and Marford, and in fact the villages, historically separate, have also merged into one in all but name.
The northern site, now known as Marford Quarry, was opened in 1927 to provide materials for the construction of the Mersey Tunnel, but quarrying ceased in 1971, when it was close by Tarmac Ltd. The site originally contained the site of Rofft Mount, a medieval motte and bailey castle. The Great Western Railway cut around the base of the mound and there was a special railway siding just off Springfield Lane for the quarry. Gravel extraction removed all trace of Rofft Mount and Castle. Twenty-six acres of the thirty-nine acre site were bought by the North Wales Wildlife Trust in 1990(1) as the site had been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1989, primarily because of rare invertebrate species found on site. The southern site is now known as Maes-y-Pant (Hollow Field) based on the name of a field forming part of the original land nearest Pant Lane. Since 2011 it has been owned by the Maes-y–Pant Action Group Ltd (MyPAG).
In 1937, Alfred McAlpine set up its first subsidiary company, The United Gravel Company at Pant Farm, known as the Pant Farm Sandhole. Confusingly it is also referred to by McAlpines as Marford Quarry, as the site was in the former hamlet of Pant, which had been subsumed into Marford. Even more confusingly, the farm buildings for Pant Farm were situated across the road next to what is now Marford Community Centre (opposite Wood Cottage and the footpath entrance into Marford Woods). Like most construction companies, McAlpines were heavily involved in war work, for which an endless supply of sand and quarry was needed, hence their decision to set up their own operation(2). Much of the sand and gravel was used for airfields(3). Ironically, United Gravel Co bought Borras Airfield, known officially as RAF Wrexham, in 1959, as a source of sand and gravel. It was a strategic move, as gravel extraction has a finite life and in the 1970s, Pant Farm was closed and Borras was activated.
Interim Development permission was first granted on 14 December 1947 for the winning and working of sand and gravel on part of the Pant site. Planning consent for extraction of minerals across the whole of what is now Maes-y-Pant was issued on 1 September 1948. However, historic aerial photography shows quarrying activity from at least 1945, by means of benches. This is interesting, as these are used by hard rock quarries, usually working from top to bottom, in a series of layers, known as benches, because the rock deposit is normally thicker than can safely be worked as one quarry face. The quarry enlarges and expands north eastwards before 1951.
The 1954 OS map shows 3 pits on site. The most substantial was a sand pit, with a boundary adjacent to the railway embankment and extending a substantial way into the centre of the site. The second was a deeper gravel pit. This followed the contours of Pant Lane and extended into the centre of the site. A third very much smaller pit is described as an ‘other pit’ and was located below where the entrance to Quarry Brow is now. By 1958 a photo shows the western (ie adjacent to what is now Whiteway Drive) and southern corners have been graded flat. A 1966 photo shows that the benches were no longer evident, the quarry increased in size and the western corner actively quarried again. The 1968 OS map shows the site almost completely quarried with the 3 pits now one. Most of the site is depicted as a gravel quarry. The only parts not quarried are substantive areas of land at the rear of what is now Whiteway Drive and an area to the right of the entrance on Pant Lane, the boundary of which followed the contours of Pant Lane.
The two quarry companies were major employers in the area. Employees worked on the plant that washed the clay and silt from the excavated material and then separated the sand and gravel into different grades/sizes, as well as transport. The main entrance to the Pant site was via Pant Lane, and the old buildings of Hollow Field Farm were knocked down. (Hollow Field Farm was pre-Victorian, a large, stone building run latterly by the Tomlinson family. Remains of brickwork were found during the laying of footpaths on site and an old gate lintel had to be removed to lay down the car park.) However, there was an important entrance at the bottom of Whiteway Drive. Bill Hough was Transport Manager on the site from 1970 and he subsequently moved with the company to Borras. His office was near what is now the entrance to MyPag at the end of Whiteway Drive. This area and one now occupied by The Conifers were the only natural wooded areas at the time. Bill confirmed that the sand and gravel quarried was used mainly on motorway construction during his time. At the back of Whiteway Drive there were lagoons used as a water supply, which were retained by sand banks. Nobody knew what source supplied the water. When the quarry was closed, the sand banks were breached and the water allowed to drain away. At the rear of the Whiteway Drive properties there is a 2m high earth bank. This was constructed to retain and divert water if the sandy lagoon sides were breached.
Bill recalls the day he expressed to the Managing Director his concern about the risk of flooding to the Whiteway Drive properties, which led to the earth bund being made.
The Managing Director at this time was a Mr Alistair McCorquodale Kennedy. Lorna, his daughter, used to keep a horse and used an area at the back of Whiteway Drive. This is now the left hand circular route of the all abilities (green) route and is still occasionally referred to locally as the horse ménage, but it was not a business as commonly believed. When Lorna’s horse died she let the area be used by two other women, but she didn’t think the horses were being kept as she would have liked and the facility was closed. The quarry site was to be developed into a large housing site. Bill Hough was the first put his name down for a new house on the proposed development. He said they were to be very nice wooden chalet type houses. The development didn’t go ahead because it was found that the ground was moving.
He is convinced that’s why McAlpines put the trees in - to settle the ground. Apparently there are a number of ‘pipes’ on site (about an inch diameter from the description) which contained some sort of ‘tell tale’ to measure the movement. I don’t think we’ve found any of those yet!
People remember the old lagoons being breached after the quarry’s closure, and the ground regraded for planting. Many people remember Pant Farm being planted with lupins (to increase the nitrogen levels in the soil) but the site was primarily used for planting Corsican pines. We thought this was for commercial purposes, but if it was, then Bill believes they were also planted to settle the soil and prevent it from moving. In 1980, Flintshire Woodlands quoted for planting 28,000 Corsican Pine trees, 1,000 Japanese Larch trees and 33 willow cuttings. We know that in May 1980 90 kg of lupin seeds were delivered. A planning restoration consent for the planting of trees was issued on 28 October 1980, the details of which were approved on 12th March 1982.
Notes -
(1) Marford Quarry Nature Reserve North Wales Wildlife Trust
(2) Tarmac Papers: The Archives and History Initiative of Tarmac plc: Vol iii 1999 p301
(3) Wrexham Leader March 6 1992
|
Photo from the Wrexham Leader,
|
We are very grateful to local historian and author, and long-time resident of Gresford, Dr Colin Jones, for giving permission for the following extract from his fascinating local history book 'Gresford Village and Church - the history of a border settlement' to be reproduced here. The book was published in 1995. Dr Jones' research also included
The Story of Pant Lane.
The Story of Pant Lane.
Sand and Gravel works
Since Gresford is located on a thick plateau of sand, gravel and clay it is not surprising that quarries of various sizes have been tried over the years. In 1814 a clay-pit is said to have been worked by the Boscawens in Clay-pit Lane to make bricks for the last of the Marford cottages. In 1827 a sand quarry between Marford Hall and the Trevor Arms was bought and used by the road-makers to assist their undertaking. There was a sort of immediacy to the getting of the sand; the man who used it was the owner.
After 1850, sand and gravel became saleable goods. There was an advertisement in the Wrexham Advertiser in 1862 saying:
'TO LET: excellent brickyard with a good bed of clay and a good supply of water, half a mile from the Plough Inn.' The directions imply that it was not on the Chester Road but either in Vicarage Lane or on the Old Wrexham Road. Very likely it was the former because in 1887 Charles Townshend of Trevalyn left his grandson Thomas Townshend Wickham ten acres of pasture and a brickyard between Vicarage Lane and Cartagena Lane. In 1881-2, according to Crockers Directory, George F. Dunford was the brickmaker there.
In Wynnstay Lane in the 1930's Williiam Bithell (whose two sons Stan and Cliff gave their names to Stancliffe Avenue) opened a sandpit at the corner of Hillock Lane. He was a local builder and needed the sand for his own use. The site is now a football pitch.
A few hundred yards away, near the top of Hudson's Lane there is evidence of a much earlier pit.
One of the two enormous commercial quarries in Gresford was the Pant Farm Sandhole on Pant Lane next to The Conifers. Started in 1935 by McAlpine's in a small way, it was plundered during the war for airfield raw material and after the war for reconstruction of factories and housing estates. It was completely opened up and afforested some twenty years ago. The other was the Marford Gravel Quarry which started in the 1920's when land was being sold by the Trevor-Boscawen trustees. There sidings were built beside the Chester-Paddington main line railway track, an engine named Gordon was used to manoeuvre the waggons (one full or five empty), the Rofft Mount was removed and the landscape changed for ever.
While the quarries lasted, McAlpine's and United Gravel were major employers in the district, needing dozens of on-site workers and dozens of lorry-drivers to take the material to where it was needed. The same was true at Ballswood Quarry at Croes Howell.
Only now is some attempt being made to temper the ugliness of what is left.
After 1850, sand and gravel became saleable goods. There was an advertisement in the Wrexham Advertiser in 1862 saying:
'TO LET: excellent brickyard with a good bed of clay and a good supply of water, half a mile from the Plough Inn.' The directions imply that it was not on the Chester Road but either in Vicarage Lane or on the Old Wrexham Road. Very likely it was the former because in 1887 Charles Townshend of Trevalyn left his grandson Thomas Townshend Wickham ten acres of pasture and a brickyard between Vicarage Lane and Cartagena Lane. In 1881-2, according to Crockers Directory, George F. Dunford was the brickmaker there.
In Wynnstay Lane in the 1930's Williiam Bithell (whose two sons Stan and Cliff gave their names to Stancliffe Avenue) opened a sandpit at the corner of Hillock Lane. He was a local builder and needed the sand for his own use. The site is now a football pitch.
A few hundred yards away, near the top of Hudson's Lane there is evidence of a much earlier pit.
One of the two enormous commercial quarries in Gresford was the Pant Farm Sandhole on Pant Lane next to The Conifers. Started in 1935 by McAlpine's in a small way, it was plundered during the war for airfield raw material and after the war for reconstruction of factories and housing estates. It was completely opened up and afforested some twenty years ago. The other was the Marford Gravel Quarry which started in the 1920's when land was being sold by the Trevor-Boscawen trustees. There sidings were built beside the Chester-Paddington main line railway track, an engine named Gordon was used to manoeuvre the waggons (one full or five empty), the Rofft Mount was removed and the landscape changed for ever.
While the quarries lasted, McAlpine's and United Gravel were major employers in the district, needing dozens of on-site workers and dozens of lorry-drivers to take the material to where it was needed. The same was true at Ballswood Quarry at Croes Howell.
Only now is some attempt being made to temper the ugliness of what is left.
The Story of Pant Lane
In Saxon times, before 1066, very few people lived in the Pant Lane area because the gravelly, sandy soil (from an ancient glacier) did not have any decent grass on it or any streams. When the Normans came in the 1100's they built a military centre behind the present Trevor Arms and made two tracks, one to the mill at Gresford and one through Pant Wood to Gresford Lake. It was a time of danger with Saxons fighting the Welsh and the Normans failing to control both groups. It was not a popular area at all.
The Welsh word 'Pant' meaning 'valley' or 'dent' was used from 1100 for Pant Wood, and in 1391 there was Pant Olwen, the track to what we now call Claypit Lane. The word 'Olwen' is Welsh for a wheel and maybe a wheel was used to get water out of the pond which was at the bottom of Claypit Lane. The chapel (now converted into a house) and the cottages called The Pant were built from 1820 on.
The one slightly successful farm on Pant Lane was where the entrance to the Gresford Quarry is now. It was pre-Victorian, large, of stone and at the end run by the Tomlinson family. This was the place that the McAlpine group bought in the early 1940s when many aerodromes and military buildings were going to be built. McAlpines knew that they could dig up the sand and gravel, wash it and take it to Cheshire and the Wirral in lorries, In this they were hugely successful. The trouble was the narrowness of Pant Lane. Collisions took place frequently at the Pant and the bungalow called Pantwood received lots of wet sand and gravel through the hedge into its below-road-level front garden. Eventually the County Council bought a long strip of land six feet wide from the bungalow to widen the road and then bought land from the farm opposite to make a wider, gentler and safer bend.
The Welsh word 'Pant' meaning 'valley' or 'dent' was used from 1100 for Pant Wood, and in 1391 there was Pant Olwen, the track to what we now call Claypit Lane. The word 'Olwen' is Welsh for a wheel and maybe a wheel was used to get water out of the pond which was at the bottom of Claypit Lane. The chapel (now converted into a house) and the cottages called The Pant were built from 1820 on.
The one slightly successful farm on Pant Lane was where the entrance to the Gresford Quarry is now. It was pre-Victorian, large, of stone and at the end run by the Tomlinson family. This was the place that the McAlpine group bought in the early 1940s when many aerodromes and military buildings were going to be built. McAlpines knew that they could dig up the sand and gravel, wash it and take it to Cheshire and the Wirral in lorries, In this they were hugely successful. The trouble was the narrowness of Pant Lane. Collisions took place frequently at the Pant and the bungalow called Pantwood received lots of wet sand and gravel through the hedge into its below-road-level front garden. Eventually the County Council bought a long strip of land six feet wide from the bungalow to widen the road and then bought land from the farm opposite to make a wider, gentler and safer bend.
During the war things were quieter but as soon as it ended enormous rebuilding projects on the Wirral meant more and more sand and gravel came out via Pant Lane. This went on until the quarry ran out of gravel in the late 70's, and trees were planted on the site.
What was a remote quiet lane and then a crowded busy lorry-track has now attracted neat and tidy housing estates and is looked upon as a good road to a splendid country area for walkers, children and their pets.
What was a remote quiet lane and then a crowded busy lorry-track has now attracted neat and tidy housing estates and is looked upon as a good road to a splendid country area for walkers, children and their pets.
