The Aggregates Industry and the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund

Quarrying is one of the oldest industries in the world. The long-standing demand for geological materials for building stones and aggregates means that the historic remains of both large and small scale quarrying activity is evident throughout the British landscape. Aggregates include sands, gravels and crushed rocks. These are principally used in infrastructure and industry and in our everyday lives we all depend on aggregates.

Aggregates extraction also provides employment and often exposes important geological features, which otherwise might not be discovered. Conversely extraction of aggregates can affect irreparable damage to historic and archaeological landscapes and often has negative effects on biodiversity. Quarry noise and traffic can be a problem for rural communities.

In 2002 the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) was introduced to help offset the environmental and social affects of aggregates extraction. The Quarrying companies pay a tax on each ton of aggregate produced. The resulting fund is distributed via various government bodies dependant on the projects being funded. In the case of projects relating to geodiversity and biodiversity the fund is administered by Natural England (formerly English Nature).

Aggregates extraction sites are found throughout the Geopark. These sites cluster around the Abberley and Malvern Hills, the May Hill area and the Wyre Forest. Crushed limestone and sandstone aggregate from these areas were used for the construction and repair of local roads and crushed lime was used on agricultural land as a soil improver. In the past disused quarries were often used as landfill sites, nowadays they are more likely to be sympathetically restored and transformed into nature reserves. Increasingly disused quarries are conserved for their geodiversity as well as their biodiversity and quarry sites are managed to benefit local communities ensuring they have access to important Earth heritage sites. The Geopark and its partners have all benefited from ALSF monies to fund site restoration works, management plans and community projects at former aggregate extraction sites.

You can find out more about the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund on the Natural England website under 'Grants & Funding'.

The River Teme winds its way through Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The Teme valley is notable especially in the Shelsleys area for the locally abundant deposits of tufa and travertine. These calcium rich deposits formed, and in some cases are still forming, as spring waters are discharged through the underlying limestones. Travertine is the harder form of the calcium carbonate deposit known as tufa and was used locally for building stones. A prime example is the church of St Andrew in Shelsley Walsh but there are many other examples of local buildings where tufa and travertine were utilised for building stone or decorative features.

Southstone Rock is one of the largest mounds of travertine in the locality and probably formed in part some six to seven thousand years ago. It is of interest both geologically and archaeologically. A small cottage was once situated on top of Southstone Rock. It was also thought to be the site of a chapel and a hermitage, although any traces of these are long gone.

The Southstone Rock trail will explore this fascinating geological feature as well as looking more generally at the archaeological and ecological aspects of tufa and travertines.

Click here to download a copy of the trail guide. (2.2 MB)

Linton Quarry is a former aggregates and building stone quarry, one of several disused workings in the area around Gorsley. Linton Quarry is unique because it contains the best documented sequence of Silurian rocks in the area. For this reason, it has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Geological Site.

The rocks exposed in the faces of the former quarry are from the Wenlock, Ludlow and Pridoli divisions of the Silurian, and represent a change from marine to continental conditions. The limestones and shales of the Wenlock and Ludlow series were deposited in a quiet marine shelf environment. These were replaced by sandstones from the Pridoli Series that were deposited under much more stormy beach or foreshore environment as sea level began to fall.

The self guiding trail around Linton Quarry takes the reader on a journey through time, highlighting some of the important features seen in the rocks.

The Wyre Forest Coalfield covers an area of about 50 square kilometres. The area around highly was an important part of this significant resource. Extraction of the various rock types within the coalfield has occurred since medieval times, thus contributing to the economy and character of the area.

Highley Colliery was established in 1878 and remained productive until its closure in 1969. The coal seem worked by the miners was located at a depth of about 270 m and was only 1.2 m thick. Peak production from this seam reached 150,000 tonnes per year.

The short trail at highly describes the formation of coal and explores the stratigraphy of the coalfields and the history of mining and its effect on the local community.

Huntley Quarry contains some of the oldest rocks in Gloucestershire, including the only known exposure of the Huntley Quarry Beds. The age of the quarry is unknown, but was certainly in use in the 1830’s when Robert Murchison, the famous geologist who established the Silurian system, was working in the May Hill area.

The Huntley Quarry Beds are sediments containing abundant volcanic material, the age of which is unknown. The layers of sandstone and siltstone have been considerably deformed by folding, thrusting and faulting due to the close proximity of the Blaisdon Fault. The self-guiding trail around the quarry reveals the complicated structures and attempts to unravel the tectonic and geological history of the site.

Huntley Quarry is now owned and managed by Gloucestershire Geology Trust as a Geological Reserve. More information about the site can be found on their website.

Tank Quarry is one of the largest and most prominent hard rock quarries on the Malvern Hills. The quarry contains exposures of igneous rocks that are approximately 700 million years old, from the Precambrian period. This makes them the oldest in Worcestershire, and amongst the oldest in the UK.

Quarrying occurred at Tank from 1870-1970, with the tough, hard igneous rocks being used as a source of raw materials from building stone and road aggregate. The rocks quarried are Diorite and Granite belonging to the Malverns Complex. The origin of these rock types tells a long and fascinating story about the position and shape of the continents during the Precambrian. The short trail around the quarry explores this story by examining the different types of rock to be found within the quarry and in outcrops on surrounding slopes.

Hobbs Quarry is a unique site containing rare exposures of a fossilised reef. For this reason, the site has been designated a Geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a Regionally Important Geological Site. The site is also a nature reserve owned by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.

The exposures in the quarry are of Wenlock limestone that formed in a warm, shallow sea during the Silurian Period. Today, the limestones contain abundant fossils of the animals and corals that formed the living reef. The trail through the quarry explores the different types of limestone and the conditions under which they were formed, along with the industrial uses of the limestones.