Cauldon Quarry
Cauldon Quarry has a long history of lime extraction over the last two centuries.
Cauldon Quarry has a long history of lime extraction over the last two centuries.
These large stone foundations used to belong to the "drum" that was used with the endless steel rope to pull the empty carts of the 1847 rack railway back up the inclined plateway with the weight of the full carts going down.
This stone shows the original grooves used to slot the bars in to create a gate quickly and cheaply.
Plateway tunnel, used to maintain the line of the earlier plateway 1785 route under the 1847 route while it was being built
Supposedly water troughs used by the horses pulling the limestone wagons on one of the old plateways from Froghall to Cauldon.
Now a sleepy end to the Caldon Canal, two centuries ago Froghall Wharf was a thriving industrial transport hub, equipped with lime kilns, warehousing and a meeting point for both the canal and railway networks. It is hard to imagine that the wharf was once the busy loading point for limestone brought down the tramways from the quarries at Cauldon Low.
Now the area is a growing leisure destination.
Shirley Brook Bridge was built to carry the first Froghall to Cauldon wagon way, circa 1778. Some people claim it might be the first true railway bridge in the world ... but that might be contentious!
