About

It was not until the second half of the 18th century, however, that quarrying began in earnest, meeting new demand for building materials during a construction and road-building boom. The advent of the turnpike road system meant granite was in high demand to make cobblestone setts, kerbs and chippings. In 1758 the quarries at Mountsorrel won a contract from the Harborough to Loughborough Turnpike to surface all the roads in the area.

Initially, the stone was transported by horse and cart but in 1794 the cutting of the Grand Union Canal allowed carriage by barge. In the 1800s quarrying continued to flourish. The Mountsorrel Granite Company, run by the local Martin family, was formed in 1854 and operated four sites – Broad Hill, Hawcliffe Hill, Nunckley Hill and Cocklow Wood.

Mountsorrel’s distinctive, pink granite was in great demand – so much so that it became clear a more efficient form of transport was necessary. Following an act of Parliament in 1858 to build an extension to the Midland Counties Railway, Broad Hill Quarry became the first industrial operation to have its own branch line and sidings at Barrow-upon-Soar. The famous 1860 bridge was constructed to carry the line over the River Soar. A further branch line was opened in 1896 linking to the Great Central line. Three distribution channels were now available: road, rail and canal, helping the company widen its market and significantly boost business.

The industry flourished and by the early 20th century around 600 workers were employed at the four sites producing setts, blocks and chippings. The 1920s brought increased demand for bulk aggregates and with it, greater mechanisation and productivity. By the mid-1930s new methods for road building were being used, heralding the end of granite sett production by around 1936. Kerb production ceased in 1940.

In the 1960s Redland Roadstone bought the Mountsorrel Granite Company hailing a new era of development and investment. Broad Hill quarry ceased production in 1967 with operations then concentrated on the Cocklow Wood area adjoining Wood Lane (the location of the present primary stone surge pile). Then in the early 1970s larger scale quarrying began in a new area of Buddon Wood – the site of today’s Mountsorrel Quarry. This major development included the installation of one of the world’s largest rock crushers.

As demand for construction materials rose throughout the 1970s and 80s, Mountsorrel’s production increased and became the largest granite production site in Europe at that time.

In the late 1990s, French-owned Lafarge acquired Redland PLC. Around the same time, Anglo-American – one of the world’s largest mining and natural resource businesses – procured leading aggregates and building materials company Tarmac Group UK.

In 2013, Lafarge Tarmac was established – a 50:50 joint venture between Lafarge and Anglo-American’s Tarmac Group subsidiary. Lafarge Tarmac managed the quarry until 2015 when CRH plc, the international leader in building materials, acquired the company and launched Tarmac as it is today.

Now the UK’s leading sustainable building products and construction solutions business, Tarmac combines the knowledge and expertise of two of the construction industry’s most iconic brands: Tarmac, the pioneers of the modern road and Blue Circle, the company that patented Portland Cement.

Our innovative products and solutions not only safely deliver the infrastructure needed to grow the UK economy today but also help to create a more sustainable built environment for the country’s long-term future. We have contributed to some of the UK’s biggest construction projects, including The Sainsbury Laboratory, Wembley Stadium, Heathrow Terminal 5, Blackpool Sea Defences, The Shard and London 2012.

The company has over 150 years of experience and directly employs around 8,000 people across a nationwide network of over 400 sites. Our solutions span aggregates, asphalt, cement, lime, readymix concrete, offsite manufacture, road contracting, highways maintenance and infrastructure services, building products and recycling services. This unique combination of people, technology and assets enables us to offer customers unrivalled choice, innovation and flexibility.

Following the submission of a planning application in 2015, we achieved planning consent to extend the north-east area of Mountsorrel quarry. This has allowed us to progress plans to relocate the primary crusher – the machinery that processes the large rocks excavated from the quarry into smaller pieces.

The existing equipment, originally installed in the 1970s, will be demolished and replaced with a semi-mobile primary crusher that will be located in the extended section of the quarry. This will shorten our haul distance between the blasting and crushing areas, which in turn will reduce the impacts of dust and noise for the benefit of residents living nearby. We anticipate that this project will be completed by 2020.

Once the works are finished, the site of the former crusher will become an information area for members of the community and visitors to the area to come along and learn more about how the quarry works and what we produce.