Longwood Edge Quarry, Huddersfield

West Yorkshire Local Geological Site

Longwood Edge Quarry STATUS: Local Geological Site
OTHER DESIGNATIONS:
COUNTY: West Yorkshire
DISTRICT: Kirklees
OS GRID REF. SE 101 177
OS 1:50,000 Landranger 110 Sheffield and Huddersfield
OS 1:25,000 Explorer 288 Bradford and Huddersfield
BGS 1:50,000 Sheet 77 Huddersfield
FIRST DESIGNATED by West Yorkshire LGS Group in 1996
DATE OF MOST RECENT SURVEY
SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION produced by Ian Chisholm
DESIGNATION SHEET UPDATED August 2009

SITE DESCRIPTION: The quarry face is about 50m long and about 10m high, with fallen blocks on the floor. It is overgrown in places. The rocks are Upper Carboniferous (Namurian) Rough Rock sandstones, with massive bedding. The sandstones are made of large angular grains of quartz and feldspar and contain rounded quartz pebbles. Some of the sandstones are badly cemented, so that the face has deep orange depressions, where the sandstone has been weathered out. There are plant fossils in some of the fallen blocks on the quarry floor. The sandstones are highly stained with iron.

Longwood Edge Quarry HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS: Probably quarrying finished around the 1920s/1930s. Records of working start from at least the 1860s, according to local trade directories. The Huddersfield and Halifax memoir 1930 (details below) mentions that the Rough Rock Flags on Longwood Edge were being worked on a small scale (p184), although this was not the only quarry on Longwood Edge.

EDUCATIONAL VALUE: This is an excellent teaching site for beginners, with a variety of bedding, weathering features and fresh sandstones.

AESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS: ACCESS AND SAFETY: A footpath leads to the site from Longwood Edge Road. Park on Longwood Edge Road (101 177) and take the footpath through the wall on the west side of the road. This is too steep for wheelchair access to be possible to this quarry. Cross the wall to the south over a low wall. The site needs a stile over the wall and also needs tidying up. It is rocky underfoot so care must be taken. The face may be dangerous so hard hats should be worn.