Catalogue description STORETON QUARRIES, Mount Road, Higher Bebington

FINANCIAL, EMPLOYEE AND CUSTOMER RECORDS

Storeton Quarries, Higher Bebington

These records were purchased from Mr. E. Stapelton, in December 1983. They had been rescued from the quarry offices after closure.

Accn. 1061

The outcrops of white or cream-coloured "Keuper" sandstone which form the Storeton ridge have been quarried for more than 1,700 years.

Buildings constructed of this stone include the Liverpool Custom House (1828), the houses in Hamilton Square, Birkenhead (1830-40), the original Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (1845), the Birkenhead Town Hall (1883), and the nave and tower of St. Andrews Church, Bebington.

However, the present records relate only to the period when the quarries were worked by the Wells family (of Bootle) : Charles Wells (between 1905-16), his executors (between 1917-20), and Frank Wells (between 1922-59). After the auction of the estates of Sir Thomas Brocklebank in 1911 see ZST/12 the quarries were owned by Lord Leverhulme.

There were two quarries. The older "North Quarry" was abandoned during the 1920's and filled in (during 1926-31) with waste from the Mersey Tunnel excavations. Working was then concentrated on the other (east) side of Mount Road, at the "Higher Bebington White Freestone Quarry".

This was gradually run down; it closed in 1959, and has also since been filled in.

For a period during the 1940's and 1950's timber was cut and sold at the quarry.

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