Type

Monument

Title / Name

Eastlays/Pictor's Monks Quarry

Summary

Opened in 1837, and originally called Pictor Monks Quarry it produced very good building and carving stone. This was transported by tramway up the incline, across Park Lane to the east side of Rough Street, where it was gravity driven to the Corsham sidings. Bought by the army in 1936, the site became fully operational in 1940 for the RAF and Royal Army Ordnance Corps. By 1944 it was holding some 45,000 tons of explosive. The site is currently a fine wine storage facility.

STONE QUARRY; SPOIL HEAP; AMMUNITION DUMP; PILLBOX, Mid C19 to Late 20th Century (1834 to 2000)

Source Detail: Royal Air Force, 1940-50s

Title: Royal Air Force (RAF) Aerial Photography (master)

Summary: No summary information. Source ID: SWI26099

Description: The surface features of the Second World War Eastlays Quarry ammunitinon depot can be seen on aerial photographs taken in 1945. This site is situated to the south-west of Chapel Knapp. The surface features consisted of numerous buildings including probable accommodation at the northern end. The southern and western side of the site are occupied by large spoil heaps created when the original post medieval Monks Quarry was cleared of waste during the sites conversion in the late 1930s. The spoil heaps to the west had a number of structures built upon them including pillboxes; a possible gun emplacement and a trench. The site was further defended by a pillbox with a wide arc of barbed wire on its eastern side at the north-eastern end of the site. A road was built linking the site to Goodes Hill road and to the north-west along the line of a former tramway to Ridge quarry. The site was mothballed in 1962 and sold in 1972. Air photos taken in 2009 show the site redeveloped and many of the wartime structures demolished, though the tree cover on the spoil heaps may hide some buildings and a building may in part be military in origin. The pillbox to the north east survives as does concrete structures surrounded by an earthwork. This arrangement of concrete and earthwork is reminiscent of some of the shafts seen in a camp further north though no shaft is marked on the Ordnance Survey map.

Source Detail: Last, J., Carpenter, E. + Evans, S., 2016

Title: West Wiltshire National Archaeological Identification Survey Lowland Pilot Project Report

Summary: Research Report This report describes the results of the National Archaeological Identification Survey Pilot Project: West Wiltshire (A350 corridor), which comprised interpretation and mapping of air photographs and lidar, analytical field survey, geophysical survey, excavation and palaeoenvironmental study. The project covered an area of 199 sq km in west Wiltshire between Chippenham and Trowbridge, centred on the Avon valley and the A350 road corridor. Source ID: SWI27877

Additional Information: Historic England 38-2016

Description: Defended by pillboxes and barbed wire.

Source Detail: Slocombe, P., 2008

Title: A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Wiltshire

Summary: Gazetteer Source ID: SWI28692

Additional Information: Association for Industrial Archaeology

Description: Bath Stone quarry known as Pictor's Monks. Opened in 1881 (?), bought by the army in 1936 and converted into part of the Central Ammunition Depot. Currently used for the storage of wines. Nearby is a open-cast stone roof tile quarry, now a grassy hollow.

Source Detail: Historic England, Various

Title: National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) Entry

Summary: Data held by the NRHE database. The data is made available and licenced under the Open Government Licence version 3. Source ID: SWI29488

Source Detail: McCamley, N. J., 1998

Title: Secret Underground Cities: an Account of Some of Britain's Subterranean Defence, Factory and Storage Sites in the Second World War

Summary: No summary information. Source ID: SWI31104

Source Detail: English Heritage,

Title: NMR Aerial Photographs (master)

Summary: No summary information. Source ID: SWI9475