Sproxton: paddocks where ironstone was once quarried
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Sproxton: paddocks where ironstone was once quarried by John Sutton as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
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Sproxton: paddocks where ironstone was once quarried
Image: © John Sutton Taken: 17 Jun 2010
The paddocks and gallops of Derek Shaw's yard at Sproxton occupy land which was from 1921-61 Sproxton No 1 ironstone quarry. The yard's postal address is "The Sidings", Saltby Road - to most people, I imagine, a mystifying name as there is now no evidence of the quarry or the railway which served it. The Great Northern Railway extended the High Dyke Branch from Skillington Junction to Sproxton c. 1920. The terminus, sidings and quarry company engine shed were behind the line of trees on the left, and the steam-worked quarry railway (originally, for just a few years, horse-worked) came down a steep curve to the Saltby road, where I stood to take this picture. No 1 quarry and its railway eventually extended as far south as the Skillington road. Lorries replaced the quarry railway at Sproxton in 1963, but the ore - from outlying quarries developed in the 1960s - was shipped out along the High Dyke Branch for another ten years. The last train of ore from Sproxton to High Dyke was on 3 April 1973.
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Image Location
Latitude
52.818981
Longitude
-0.730356