Quarrying at Musbury Heights was an industry that lasted a hundred years. Today the site is open to the public to explore, and contains a wealth of structures dating back to the quarry’s heyday.
It existed to extract stone known as Lower Haslingden Flag. This is a form of Millstone Grit, a sandstone formed in the Carboniferous era, 350 million years ago. It was originally laid down in a river delta, where a river fans out as it nears its destination, such as a sea or a lake. As the water current slows it drops sediment, which gradually builds up in layers. Present day Mississippi and Colorado deltas would be similar to the conditions that formed the stone at Musbury.
The site was also known as Park Quarries, because of it being within the boundary of a Medieval deer park, the ditch of which can still be seen in the landscape. Records show that there was a quarry on the hill as early as 1825, worked by the Roscow family of Calf Hey. It was depicted on the Ordinance Survey first edition map as ‘Sandstone Quarry (Flags)’, giving a clue to the use the stone was being put to.
The method of extracting the stone was from digging open pits or cutting into outcrops on the hillside. The stone is unusually hard for a sandstone, equivalent to the toughness of granite. It was used mostly for paving flags and over the decades became popular enough to be sent out beyond the county to all around Britain, including London’s Trafalgar Square. In Lancashire the stone was also used to construct the distinctive ‘flag walls’ that are still in place today. The stone was also used for roofing and roadside kerbs.
By 1876 Musbury Heights Quarry had been taken over by Hargreaves and Bolton, who oversaw a huge expansion of the works. During their ownership a scrubbing mill was added in 1880. Here the stone would have been cut and then polished by a steam powered rotating slab.
Getting the stone off the hill top was no easy feat. Trucks on a railed tramway took stone directly from the worked faces. Then they would carry the stone down the side of the hill, using a specially cut steep incline. An ingenious ‘endless wire’ cable system enabled the empty trucks to be hauled back up the hill as the fully laden ones descended.
Hargreaves and Bolton also constructed a mineral line. This was a two mile railway that took the stone from the base of the hill to the main Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway line. The mineral line went around the edge of nearby Holden Wood Reservoir and then via a tunnel under Holcombe Road just south of the Holden Arms pub. From there it reached Grane Road sidings where it could join the Clifton, Accrington and Colne mainline. A steam engine named Roscow was used to haul the stone, capable of pulling some 200 tons.
Subsequent proprietors of the quarry were Grane Brick and Terracotta Company, who took over in 1895. Two years later the Grane Brick and Stone Company became the owners. In 1903 the site and all equipment, including two locomotives, was sold to the Grane Quarry Company, who subsequently became Hodgon’s Road Contracting.
Working life in the quarry would have been difficult and dangerous. There must have been many injuries in the day to day working with large slabs of stone and heavy machinery. In 1906 John Holland, aged 53, was run over by a truck while it was being shunted. He died from his injuries. Twelve years later a series of strikes took place over low pay and poor working conditions for the quarrymen. The quarry finally closed in 1930.
Visiting the Site Today
In 2004 English Heritage provided funds for some of the structures in the quarry to be restored for the public to see. Visiting gives some sense of the busy working life that existed there once. The scrubbing mill chimney remains a focal point of the site. Before its repair it had been in danger of total collapse. It has now been restored and slightly shortened, but is in otherwise very good condition. Beside it is the small reservoir for the mill. Nearby, bases for cranes and other machines can clearly be seen.
Low walls structures of what were offices, weigh houses, quarrymen’s huts and blast shelters can also be viewed. Keen eyed visitors may spot remnants from the tramway, in the form of metal bolts or parts of wooden sleepers in the ground.
The steep incline where the heavily laden trucks were once lowered down the hill remains prominent. At the top, the sheer sides are held in place by drystone walling. At the bottom, a small tunnel allowed workers to safely pass below it. Nearby to the incline, and running parallel to it, is the Medieval Park boundary.
What was once a busy, noisy workplace is now a place for quiet contemplation, should the visitor wish to partake. The ruined buildings, artefacts and quarry faces are fascinating to explore. The quarry stone waste still litters the hillside, with numerous spoil dumps, but as each year passes, nature slowly reclaims the mounds.
Site visited by A. and R. Bowden 2026
Access
There are routes up to the quarry from the two popular car parks on Grane Road (Clough Head Car Park and Calf Hey Car Park). Alternatively park on Holcombe Road in Helmshore and follow footpaths from there. The Rossendale Way passes through the quarry. Take a map and compass. The grid reference for Musbury Heights Quarry chimney (as a focal point) is 763 221.
Nearby
The Whisky Spinner of Bentley House
The Lost Village of Haslingden Grane
St Stephen’s- The Church that Moved
References
The Mystical Moors: A historical field guide to the Rossendale Valley, East Lancashire, Stephen Oldfield (2022). Carnegie Scotforth Book Production and Cambrian Printers. This book is excellent and deserves to be on the shelf of all who are interested in the history of Rossendale.
valleyofstone.org.uk/journey/heritagesites/musburyheightsquarry
valleyofstone.org.uk/journey/inthebeginning/rockstrata
valleyofstone.org.uk/journey/heritagesites/musbuuryheightstramway
digspag.org.uk/musbury-heights/
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