# Shellbrows quarry, Northumberland. 2008.



## Sabtr (Apr 21, 2008)

Shellbrows quarry is located about 1 mile West of Matfen in Northumberland. It is a small, shallow disused limestone quarry with it's own limekilns. I visited the site with BigLoada earlier this year. The whole area has many historical "oddities" nearby. An old Roman road (The Devils Causeway) runs through the site and an ROC post is located nearby. A Flashearth location:
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=55.040939&lon=-1.999327&z=18.6&r=0&src=ggl

A lime kiln.



The top of the kilns.


BigLoada with the quarry bed dropping away behind him.



The quarry in all its beauty.



Within the quarry we also came across a small "dump" which was rabbit infested. We spent quite a while looking through what the bunnies had dug up for us! Although the rubbish dated back to about 1950 we came across some interesting junk! I'm sure BigLoada has some photos of it!

Thanks for looking.


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## Elvis killer (Apr 21, 2008)

Old rubbish dumps are cool, remember when you, bigloada, me and me mate were looking for that s.o.e. auxilery bunker a few months ago, well before we met you we found a dump near where we were looking, there was earthenware bottles clay pipes and all sorts liying about, you can get good money for old bottles there very collectable apparantly. Like the limekiln btw


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## Foxylady (Apr 21, 2008)

I really like that limekiln. Lovely old quarry in a great location. Sounds like my kind of place...sadly, too far for me to visit. Are there any other roman remains in the area as well as the road at all? I agree, old rubbish dumps are cool...used to root about in them when I was a kid.


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## King Al (Apr 21, 2008)

Great pics! really like that Kiln, Looks like you had a nice day out


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## Sabtr (Apr 21, 2008)

Thank you for all the comments.  There are loads of quarry type thingys like this and one day I think I'll manage to cover them all!
Foxylady - this site is a few miles north of hadrians wall and also near to Dere Street (another roman road). Most of the Roman stuff lies around hadrians wall but to be honest it isn't my cup of tea! I would much rather find all the little known stuff - I enjoy the research and the thrills of a find. Next time I am travelling along the military road (basically hadrians wall) I will catch a few snaps for you. It is still impressive to see the earth works which were associated with the wall. I also know of a field which Dere Street cuts through and you can see the raised road in the grass.


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## Foxylady (Apr 21, 2008)

Cheers, sausage.  I'm very much into Romano-Britain (it's sort of my specialist subject  ) and my dream holiday is to walk Hadrians Wall. I wondered if the site was anywhere nearby there.
Look forward to seeing the other quarries.


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## BigLoada (Apr 24, 2008)

Just noticed this thread now mate! But that pic of me is terrible, it really isnt showing my best side y'know! Anyway, thats class stuff man, I didnt really get any good photos though as I was too busy searching the dump for old poison bottles as usual.

Foxy, there are hundreds of old quarries and mines here especially in South Northumberland and around the wall area. The Explorer series OS maps are great for that kind of thing


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## the|td4 (Apr 26, 2008)

BigLoada said:


> Just noticed this thread now mate! But that pic of me is terrible, it really isnt showing my best side y'know! Anyway, thats class stuff man, I didnt really get any good photos though as I was too busy searching the dump for old poison bottles as usual.
> 
> Foxy, there are hundreds of old quarries and mines here especially in South Northumberland and around the wall area. The Explorer series OS maps are great for that kind of thing



LOL 

I was in Hexham yesterday so I drove home via this little gem and had a poke around... I found treasure in the form of a long lost marble  ( I like that sort of thing ). 

BigLoada - Ah the illusive coffin bottle. I too, will find one one day ! 

Did anyone else notice the ladders in one of the kilns ?


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## BigLoada (Apr 26, 2008)

the|td4 said:


> LOL
> 
> I was in Hexham yesterday so I drove home via this little gem and had a poke around... I found treasure in the form of a long lost marble  ( I like that sort of thing ).
> 
> ...



Yes the ladders! I wondered about that too. They were pretty ancient and wondered if they could from the days when the kiln operated.

As for bottles, I have a few poison ones but not a blues one yet!


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## Sabtr (Apr 26, 2008)

The ladders were odd - they didn't reach the top by about 6 feet so what use they were I don't know! TD4 - did you see the BBC milk jug thing in the quarry dump? Again another oddity but then again just along the road is Stagshaw Bank transmitter so maybe it came from there?


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## the|td4 (Apr 28, 2008)

Haha yes I saw that BBC milk jug, it gave me pause for thought indeed ! 

I did remark to myself about the proximity of the transmitter site but at the time I didn't make any connection between it and the bbc jug. Hell of a colour isn't it.

I'm sure that little rubbish dump could yield some interesting finds but I think I've already got enough old bottles to last me a lifetime. I only bother picking up stuff I'd hate to see get destroyed or lost forever, profit isn't the idea, preserving the past is.

... (of course if I find a marble then that's another story, I must and shall have more!)


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## Wile-E (Apr 29, 2008)

Foxylady said:


> Are there any other roman remains in the area as well as the road at all?



I've got some pics from a few of the EH roman sites, I'll have a dig through photobucket this morning and post some for you.


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## Foxylady (Apr 29, 2008)

Wile-E said:


> I've got some pics from a few of the EH roman sites, I'll have a dig through photobucket this morning and post some for you.



Ooooooh, excellent! Cheers, Wile-E.


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