Stone of the Month: Clipsham Block Stone
Stamford Stone is now extracting block stone from its Clipsham Bidwells Quarry in Lincolnshire, England, formerly known as the Davenport Handley Quarry or Bullimores Quarry.
“It has taken us several years since we acquired the quarry in 2018 to process the quarrying applications which had been ongoing for three to four years with the previous owner,” explained Dan Wilson, director of Stamford Stone. “We’ve already removed the overburden at the site and are now beginning to excavate some exceptional masonry stone. We received the go-ahead to create a 41-acre extension to the quarry, which will access reserves of 500,000 tons of masonry block stone, which we will extract over the next 12 years.
“The beds in Clipsham Bidwells were much tighter than we were used to in Medwells, so we have invested in Fantini chain saws for the extraction, which has not only increased our capacity but given squared blocks, which eliminated much of the waste leaving the quarry,” Wilson went on to say.
Squared blocks of three to eight tons with bed heights of up to 800 mm are now available.
Premium masonry block stone continues to be available from the company’s Clipsham Medwell Quarry in blocks of three to 10 tons with bed heights up to 1,000 mm.
Clipsham limestone from both of the Stamford Stone-owned quarries, Clipsham Medwell and Clipsham Bidwells, is also available as scants and sawn six sides. Recent test data is available on request for stone from both quarries.
“We’ve had enquiries for our block stone from Clipsham Bidwells Quarry since we took ownership three years ago,” said Wilson. “We appreciate everyone’s patience while we negotiated all the necessary permissions. We’re delighted to now be at the stage of being able to offer our Clipsham block stone for many years to come.”
Technical Data
Country of Origin: England
Apparent Density: 2,180 kg/m3
Open Porosity: 18.3%
Compressive Strength: 47 MPa
Flexural Strength: 5.8 MPa
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