Limestone Quarrying in North Craven

David gave his talk to an audience of about 40 NCHT members with some Royal Geographical Society members present, since this was a joint event. The talk with numerous old and interesting photographs of quarry sites, kilns and quarry workers gave us a better understanding of the processes involved and working methods for limestone extraction and the ‘burning’ of limestone to produce lime for industrial and agricultural use. The awful 20th century working conditions were notable and the phyical strength required for stone-breaking, stone lifting into skips, and pushing loaded skips to weigh stations almost unbelievable. Health and safety was not an issue foremost in the minds of the quarry and kiln owners. Nor was an early retirement age compulsory for such hard labouring effort with payment based on individual output. The talk finished with a remarkable short film made in the 1930s of quarry workers doing their jobs. The sight of a man working unsupported on a sheer cliff face, levering boulders to fall to the quarry floor far below was a staggering image left in the minds of the audience.

In the afternoon David led a visit to the Hoffmann kiln in Langcliffe and explained in detail how the kiln worked and how it developed over many years of sustained operation with only a couple of outages. Kilns had to be kept working to maintain fuel effciency. Design improvements came with innovations of air induction at both sides of each section where limestone was burnt, and the introduction of ribs in the arched ceiling to reduce ‘by-passing’ of hot gases in the space above the limestone which developed as the limestone shrank as it changed from carbonate to oxide. These ideas were part of the new subject of chemical engineering gathering pace notably in the early 20th century in Germany and the US.

The continued walk was supposed to be via the Langcliffe Locks to see salmon leaping but repairs to Stainforth bridge prevented passage over the river. We went instead over the fields to Langcliffe and up the hill to Winskill, observing the lynchets and walls in passing. The lynchets are probably Anglo-Saxon in origin, not 13th or 14th century when pressures on land and availablity of manpower were generally absent in our locality. Alison Armstrong spoke about the buildings at Lower Winskill and the dated oak cruck beams to be found there.

A leisurely walk down Goatscar lane into Stainforth ended a most satisfactory outing.