Parson Byers Quarry	Index	Parson Byers Quarry

Location:	Stanhope 17½ miles [28 km] SSE of Hexham
Map Ref:	(Sheet 92, OL31) NZ000372, 54° 43' 47" N, 2° 0' 0" W
Opened:
Closed:
Owners:	???? - Bell Brothers Ltd.
Output:	1922 - Limestone.
Employment:	1922 - 95 (91 below, 4 surface)
Notes:	Miscellaneous Notes and Incidents for Parson Byers Quarry

Description

The Stanhope quarries are Parson Byers & Newlandside, which adjoin one another and form a continuous face three miles in length. The limestone bed reaches a thickness of about 60 ft. and lies at an elevation of about 900 ft. above sea level. Each of the quarries is served by a self-acting incline which delivers the loaded 10-ton railway trucks to the lines of the L. & N. E. Railway.

A pair of gravity-operated balanced drums are placed at the top of each incline. The Parson Byers drums are 12 ft. dia. by 3 ft. wide, those at Newlandside being 8 ft. dia. by 3 ft. 2 in. wide. The latter have recently been renewed. The new drums made in the company's fabrication department are of welded-steel construction. The brakes are "Ferodo" lined.

From the incline head to the working face the trucks are handled by four-wheel coupled saddle-tank steam locomotives having 12-in, cylinders by 18 in. stroke.

The quarrymen work in pairs and load the limestone direct into trucks, the face being served with 4-ft. 8½-in. gauge tracks. Blasting is done with high explosives, the holes being put in by compressed-air drills. Each quarry is equipped with a Ruston-Bucyrus steam-driven excavator for removing the overburden. One of these excavators has a bale pull of 18 tons and the other a pull of 20 tons.

Iron & Coal Trades Review 1937

Disasters (5 or more killed)

None found.

Names of those killed at this colliery

Please note that this collection of names is by no means complete!

						Atkinson, George, 10 Mar 1900, (accident: 22 Feb 1900), aged 38, Labourer, He was shovelling some pieces of frozen dirt out of a truck when a piece scratched his hand. He worked three days and then never worked again. Died from sceptic blood poisoning on March 10th.
						Bainbridge, Joseph, 10 Nov 1899, aged 33, Quarryman, While lifting stone with a heavy bar he fell a distance of 40 feet on to a bench 12 feet from the ground, and was so severely injured that he afterwards died.
						Carruthers, John Fergus, 28 Jul 1896, aged 24, Truck Brakesman, He was riding inside a waggon, and, while it was moving slowly into a siding, he jumped off the wrong side and was caught between the waggon and the side of the quarry, and so severely injured that he died shortly afterwards
						Gowland, Thomas Albert, 09 Oct 1892, aged 19
						Gowland, Thomas Albert, 09 Oct 1902, aged 19, Truck Brakesman, he was injured on January 11th last ; the doctor, however, gave a certificate that he died from pulmonary tuberculosis, and that the accident had nothing to do with his death
						5 names found

If you know of any fatalities missing from the above list then please contact us with the details and we will add them to our database.

Some of the names of mining fatalities on this page have been kindly provided by Ian Winstanley of the Coal Mining History Resource Centre and are marked with , further details may be obtained by contacting Ian by email at ian.winstanley@blueyonder.co.uk

Collieries and Pits within 5 miles (8km)

  a simulated map showing the immediate vicinity of Parson Byers Quarry

  list of collieries/pits etc. near to Parson Byers Quarry

Credits

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