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Smalls Quarries Ltd
published by Peter de Dulin on Mon, 08/04/2024 - 14:23

Hi. Wondered if any of your members would have any information regarding a former company called 'Smalls Quarries Ltd' that operated out of Backwell Hill in the past. I came across an old 'Mines & Quarries Act 1954' completed form on a board that was issued to the company in March 1965 and would really like to add some provenance to it.
Best regards
Wayne Bennett (Felixstowe, Suffolk)

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Comments ..


Submitted by gricharduk on Tue, 09/04/2024 - 8:33

Small's Quarries Ltd (Companies House No. 386154) was first registered on 11 March 1944. It was formed to takeover the mining interests of the New Hartcliffe Quarry company. Both companies were owned by Arthur Small, of 7 Queen Street, Bristol. New Hartcliffe Quarry owned Hartcliffe Rock Quarry at Barrow Hill, Felton, near Winford, and Arthur merged this quarry into the new company. The company had registered offices at 298 Bishopsworth Road, Bristol, and Arthur also ran a commercial vehicles' business from there (trading as Western Commercial Motors).[See "New Companies" in the The Quarry Managers' Journal, May 1944, Volume 27, Number 11, Page 526] Arthur was a member of Bristol Rotary Club and president of Bristol South Harriers athletics club. Hartcliffe Rock Quarry, produced about a thousand tons of crushed limestone a year, mainly used for road building, but the quarry now stands as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).

In 1952, Small's Quarries opened Stancombe Quarry on the south-face of Backwell Hill near Flax Bourton. In 1964, the Witney Stone Company, a subsidiary of the Amey Group Ltd, purchased Small's Quarries. In 1968, Hobbs Quarries Ltd, a mining company based at Backwell House, Backwell, merged their quarry interests with Wimpey Asphalt Ltd, then part of the George Wimpey Group, to form Wimpey Hobbs Ltd under Hobbs (Quarries) Holdings Ltd. Before 1977, Hobbs (Quarries) Holdings acquired the Witney Stone Company. Small's Quarries Ltd was formally wound-up on 22 November 1989, along with a number of other defunct mining companies owned by Hobbs (Quarries) Holdings. In 1996, Tarmac Limited acquired Wimpey Hobbs.

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