These are of quarry activities in the Runcorn area photographed in the past. Sadly we can not identify which of the quarries are depicted,but they are probably of the Weston Quarries. Certainly the last(sepia)photo is of Weston Quarry...it says so on the photo frame!
'Click' the button below to see the old photos. A new window will open and a "slide show" of the old pictures will begin. Pictures will change every 10 secs. The two side arrows permit fast forward, or backward as required. Putting mouse over the picture(including the grey border areas), will stop the slides from changing and moving mouse off the same will allow the slides to recommence. (The same method is used to view the modern photos below)
These have been taken recently.The older Runcorn quarries started up in the late 1700's and were exhausted before 1900. These older Runcorn quarries were gradually filled with the spoil from the newer quarries. During the 1920's economic depression, these quarries and their contents were landscaped to provide (a) a recreational amenity for the Town and (b) some employment for the hundeds of the unemployed.
Wright's Quarry Weston and East Quarry,Weston were the last to close in 1938/39. The north part of these quarries was used as a rifle range during WW2 but the main part was used to dump chemical waste, mainly lime slurry, from the near-by chemical works. After WW2 small quantities of other chemical waste was buried in this quarry. This chemical waste dumping finished in the 1970's and the quarries were then grass-topped but traces of these chemicals were detected in 1990's under nearby houses, which it was found,had been built on back-filled areas of the old quarry and the gases were seeping up through the rubble on which they had been built. The affected houses were condemned and demolished.
Some of the other older worked-out Runcorn quarries were also re-excavated in the 1960's to provide, amongst other things, foundation rubble for the new road from Widnes to Liverpool known as "Route 7". These were then refilled with household waste of all description in the days when recycling was not spoken about. These too were finally covered with soil and grassed over.