Hanson Aggregates
works Daglingworth Quarry,extracting limestone aggregate for road building, ornamental driveway stone and dust for brick making. Extraction of stone from the site is believed to have started in 1905, since when it has been in almost continuous use.The planning permission for the quarry expires in 2042 and progressive restoration is currently being undertaken.
Extraction Methods
Daglingworth Quarry is worked by hydraulic excavator, with larger blocks being broken down at the face by
the use of a wrecking ball. The material is then hauled to a processing plant, which houses the primary and
secondary crushers. From there, the material is fed to two screen houses via conveyor belts. The material is
sorted into five grades of limestone aggregate for use in road building and ornamental gravel with the dust being processed for brick making.
Geology
The quarry exposes about 30 metres of Middle Jurassic, Middle to Upper Bathonian Stage, Great Oolite Group. The Bathonian Stage lasted from 167.7 Million years ago to 164.7 Million years ago.
Daglingworth during the Jurassic.
During the Middle Jurassic, the area that is now Southern Britain was very different from today and lay at about 40° N of the equator (the latitude today occupied by the heel of Italy). To the east lay a low lying landmass called the London Platform with an extensive, very shallow, marine shelf to the west. Throughout the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic), the position of the shelf margin fluctuated with the occasional emergence of some areas above sea level. It was onto this marine shelf that the strata exposed at the Daglingworth quarry were laid down.
the fossils
A wide variety of fossils are known from the Daglingworth Quarry. Oysters, pectinids (scallops) and echinoids (sea urchins) can be found within the Taynton Limestone and Hampen Formations. Discovered within the sandy lenses of Hampen Formation are rare plant fragments, and dinosaur footprints have been found near the top of the formation. These are now on display at the quarry office. The Shipton Member is generally devoid of fossils except, for a few beds containing borings and burrows made by marine animals such as molluscs and worms. At the top of this member is the Excavata bed where gastropods and the echinoids, Clypeus and Cidaris are found in abundance. Trace fossils, borings and bivalves are found in many
beds throughout the Ardley Member. Fossils from large reptiles have been found from near the
top of the member.
