Type

Building

Title / Name

Quarry Hill Works

Summary

A C17 house, early to mid-C19 former candle factory, mid-C19 house, mid-to late C19 factory buildings. Late C19 and C20 alterations and additions.

HOUSE; CANDLE FACTORY; HOUSE; FACTORY, Early C17 to Late C19 (1601 to 1900)

Source Detail: Historic England, 2017

Title: Case Name: Quarry Hill Works, Box, Wiltshire

Summary: Advice Report Source ID: SWI27952

Description: The earliest known reference to a candle and soap factory at Box is in November 1835 when the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette reported on a fire at the site. The factory was then owned by the Vezey family, and Thomas Vezey is recorded as the owner of the site on the 1838 tithe map and apportionment, which refers to a dwelling house and candle manufactory, and a garden. It is also known that Thomas Vezey’s father, James Vezey, was a tallow chandler, although whether this was at Box is unclear. During the building of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Box Tunnel, constructed between 1836 and 1841, the candle factory is thought to have supplied the candles required to enable its construction. The historic map evidence and the surviving fabric of the buildings illustrate the development of the site. The tithe map shows an early to mid-C19 factory building at the western extent of the site, with its frontage onto Quarry Hill. To its immediate south-east is the C17 dwelling house which had a garden to the north. These two buildings are extant. The garden appears to have been built over in the mid-C20. At the eastern extent of the site, again fronting Quarry Hill, was an L-shaped building. This is not shown on the 1886 Ordnance Survey (OS) map. The additional building to the east appears to have been in separate ownership in 1838 but is shown as part of the site on the 1886 OS map, although its footprint is altered suggesting that it was rebuilt in the mid-to late C19. It was extended to the west and the south in the mid-C20. In the early part of the mid-C19 an additional house was built at the centre of the site, and in the mid-to late C19 a detached rectangular building was added to the south; this was extended to the west in the mid-C20. Quarry Hill Works is labelled as a soap works on the 1921 OS map, and as a rubber works on the 1932 OS map. The transition to the manufacture of rubber goods, including tennis balls and rebuilding tyres, appears to have begun in the 1930s, during the ownership of Williams, Ellis and Co. They employed Joseph Price as an expert and he relocated his family to Box, living at the mid-C19 house. In 1958, the company was bought by his son, Derek Price, who purchased the site in 1960. Price of Bath are now the only manufacturer of tennis balls in the western world. Details A C17 house, early to mid-C19 former candle factory, mid-C19 house, mid-to late C19 factory buildings. Late C19 and C20 alterations and additions. The C17 house is built of coursed Bath stone with ashlar dressings. The building has a rectangular footprint, with a heated room at the west end; stack removed. The principal façade (south) is of three bays with a central square-headed doorway with ovolo moulding, flanked by window openings. The metal-framed window to the left, within a concrete surround, is a mid-C20 insertion. To the right is a blocked C17 stone mullion window with ovolo moulding. A single moulded string course runs across the façade above the window and door openings. The wall of the C17 house continues above but is surmounted by a mid-C20 blockwork addition, and the roof is covered with corrugated iron. The rear wall retains evidence for two, three-light, mullion windows. The doorway to the centre is a mid-C20 modification giving access to the mid-C20 factory buildings built over the garden, and incorporating the rear wall and boundary wall in their construction. Internally, there is a blocked stone mullion window to the west wall, and a stone fireplace with a four-centred arch with ovolo moulding and a moulded mantelshelf above. The early to mid-C19 factory building to the west of the site, fronting Quarry Hill, is a two storey, six-bay building, with ashlar dressings and a pitched roof covered in corrugated iron. The openings have cambered arch heads and are set within ashlar surrounds. There are four windows at ground floor, with a doorway to the left, and a loading door to the right. To the first floor are three windows, and to the far left is a wide loading door. The metal-framed windows are mid-C20 replacements. The building was extended to the rear in the late C19, and the east gable wall has been opened up to allow access to the mid-C20 factory buildings to the east. The rear and west wall, visible internally, have additional cambered-arched openings. The iron roof trusses are late C19. The mid-C19 house at the centre of the site, now used as offices, has a square footprint and is a two-storey, three-bay building with a cellar and a hipped roof, and a stone stack. Built of coursed Bath stone, the principal (north) elevation is of ashlar with a plat band. It comprises a central six-panel door with transom light above, and is flanked by six-over-six hornless sash windows; there are three further sash windows to the first floor. The rear (south) elevation has a central doorway. To the left is a six-over-six hornless sash window and to the right is a narrower doorway and a C20 casement. The first floor is blind. The east elevation has a doorway and sash window at ground floor and a further sash window at first floor. The west elevation has two sash windows at ground floor and a uPVC window at first floor. Internally the house retains its plan form with rooms arranged around a central hallway. The mid-C19 staircase has been boxed in and the balusters removed; it retains its newel post at the landing. The house retains some mid-C19 joinery including doors and window shutters, although much is mid-C20. There is a fireplace at ground and first floor with grates removed. The mid-to late-C19 factory building to the east of the site is of Bath stone, with a pitched roof of timber trusses, covered in pantiles. The blockwork extensions to the west and the south are mid-C20. The mid-to late-C19 factory building to the south-east of the mid-C19 house is of Bath stone with King-post roof trusses with angle struts. The roof is covered in corrugated iron. The building has been extended to the west in the mid-C20. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: running from the west of the entrance to the site, to the early to mid-C19 factory building, is a Bath stone boundary wall of various phases. The section of wall to the front of the mid-C19 house is of large blocks of coursed stone with sweeping sections, and flat coping stones. It includes a set-forward square-headed doorway providing access to the stone steps leading to the house. The wall continues to the west and is of roughly coursed stone, and is surmounted by weather-boarded and corrugated iron mid-C20 factory buildings.

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: Rubber factory of ashlar stone, formerly Veyzey's Soap & Candle Works, the site in use from 1835 or earlier. A ton of candles per week was consumed during the making of Box Tunnel. Candles were also used in the underground quarries until 1877 or later.