Whether they are still operational or long abandoned, quarries are often dismissed as eyesores. Despite this, they can be fascinating to visit, and provide an interesting link to a once powerful and necessary industry. Although the Romans worked quarries, it was not until the middle-ages that the industry became established on a large scale. It then achieved its height during the nineteenth century in response to industrialization and the associated demand for stone. The book deals with the extraction methods of various types of stone and the rise and slow decline of quarrying across the UK. While telling the history of quarrying it also covers some of the most famous and notable quarrying sites.

Industrial discipline in mining, quarrying, brickmaking and other classes of mineral work was very different to that in nineteenth-century factories and mills. First published in 1977, this book deals with mineral workers of every class and discusses the peculiarities and common features of their work. It offers three detailed local studies: pit life in County Durham, slate quarrying in North Wales, and saltworkers in Cheshire alongside an introductory section on mineral workers in general. The author is concerned with the family and community setting; the social relationships at the point of production itself; job control and trade unionism; and with material culture, wages and earnings.