# Box Freestone - Wiltshire Dec 2012



## Landsker (Dec 22, 2012)

Made up from several visits, finally got enough pics to get a report together. 

*History*

History 

Box Freestone Quarry is the largest of the bathstone quarries its name is a combination of its location beneath Box hill and the type of stone it produced. a free stone is one which can be worked with a chisel to produce architectural moldings and tracery. The fine lime stone produced in the Bath area is prime example of a freestone. Quarrying on Box hill dates back to medieval times when the stone was extracted from pits in the hillside where the stone reached the surface. Later quarrying would take place around vertical shafts and it is this method of mining which lead to the construction of one of Box Freestone's most spectacular features, The Cathedral which was quarried via vertical shaft between 1830 and 1850.

The last section of the quarry to be worked was Cliftworks quarry in the northern district which closed in 1969, These working branched off a single long passage which open out of the hillside at Cliftworks Entrance over looking the A4. The passages in the northern district still retain the largest number of artifacts including number of complete cranes, Stone saws and an intact crab winch. Throughout the Cliftworks passages the floor is uneven with the pits left behind by the rotten sleepers which once supported the rail network in this part of the quarry, Clift works was the most modern part of the quarry with stone hauled out by a small locomotive, a water tank near Cliftworks entrance was built to service the engine and the passage roofs are still stained by the locomotives exhaust.

On with the pics, (nothing you havent all seen before!)

1 Crane 10





2 Crane 9





3 Crane 2





4 Some nice arching in Cliftworks





5 Winch





6 A rather deep well





7 The Robots





8 Princess Di Memorial





9 Passage of deads





10 And to finish off, Cathedral


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## UrbanX (Dec 22, 2012)

Fantastic stuff, great pics: only problem with pics lit this well is that people will assume its light down there 
Love that place, cheers for sharing such clean photos.


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## shot_in_the_dark (Dec 22, 2012)

stunning shots these!!


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## Bones out (Dec 23, 2012)

UrbanX said:


> Fantastic stuff, great pics: only problem with pics lit this well is that people will assume its light down there
> Love that place, cheers for sharing such clean photos.




^^ What he said ^^


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## UE-OMJ (Dec 23, 2012)

Fascinating place, one day I'll visit for myself I hope.


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## flyboys90 (Dec 24, 2012)

Superb photos.


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## oldscrote (Dec 24, 2012)

A great set of pictures,haven't been down there for years.Here's the reason it's easy to get lost in there





and that's just one of three interconnected maps


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## dangerous dave (Dec 24, 2012)

hahaha getting lost in box that never happened did it mate...


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## oldscrote (Dec 25, 2012)

dangerous dave said:


> hahaha getting lost in box that never happened did it mate...



Never once got lost in there........spent a lot of time temporarily misplaced tho'


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## Landsker (Dec 25, 2012)

dangerous dave said:


> hahaha getting lost in box that never happened did it mate...



Lol, we got there in the end though didn't we?


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## dangerous dave (Dec 25, 2012)

got there in the end did we not was a fun few hours


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## SeffyboyUK (Dec 26, 2012)

Lovely mate. Still wanting more mines now!


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## dangerous dave (Dec 26, 2012)

SeffyboyUK said:


> Lovely mate. Still wanting more mines now!



seffy will drop you info soon son stay tuned on faceache


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## MrDan (Dec 26, 2012)

That map is reason enough to never let me near there! I get lost in my own town.


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## sweet pea (Dec 28, 2012)

MrDan said:


> That map is reason enough to never let me near there! I get lost in my own town.



haha you get lost as soon as you pull off your drive I can read maps quite well


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## night crawler (Dec 28, 2012)

There is a surprise one of the best I have seen from the place yet.


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## chapmand (Jan 30, 2013)

really wana get to this place this year. love the pics. thanks for posting this


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## Munchh (Jan 30, 2013)

Top quality lighting job. Probably the best I've seen of any underground location. Hats off


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## daftoldgit (Jan 30, 2013)

Nice to see pictures of the part with the cranes- I've been down there several times and never found that section! 
The map's very hard to follow, due to the random layout of the place


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## daftoldgit (Jan 30, 2013)

admin- please remove this bit!


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## Ramsgatonian (Feb 3, 2013)

Lovely lightpainting skills! 

Thanks for posting.


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## TeeJF (Feb 4, 2013)

Lovely stuff!

It was about this time last year there was a forum trip and it was a hoot. Missed that winch machine and the brick lined corridors thpough.

Nice!


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