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Pete H of Ulley quarry told me that it is the place where the
facing material of Liverpool's Anglican cathedral was cut (most
of
the structural support work is actually brick).
The quarry didn't supply stone to build the cathedral in Liverpool, but the saw cut specially supplied stone. The quarry had a very old fasioned saw called a shot saw that left a very distinctive pattern on the finished stone. It was possibly the only one left in the UK at the time. The quarry has since changed to diamond blades, and unfortunately they are very shortly (as at May 2005) going to be removing the old saw and possibly selling it for scrap. It's probably as old as the quarry. A sad end for a machine that may have seen two world wars and three generations of quarry men. Pete sent me the pictures below of the saw in action.
Annette Wade of Thurcroft sent another piece of Ulley quarry's long history; at one time Blackmoor Quarry (its name at the time) belonged to her ancestors, the Bells of Wickersley, a well known family at the time. Below is an invoice from the Bells who owned the quarry in 1953 (their offices were in Wickersly though), for #45 for the supply of a memorial (possibly a grave's headstone). This would have been the equivalent of several weeks average wages in 1953, so = #1000+ in 2010.
