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Description:  The remains of the alum quarries and associated features on the coastal cliffs north of Sandsend. The associated features includes a range of structures used for initial processing and transport of the alum. There are three discrete quarries present, extending northwards along the coast for one kilometre. The earliest quarry, which was working from 1733, was the closest to Sandsend at Gaytrees. The other two, at Ness End and Deep Grove, were excavated later as the extraction progressed along the coast. The quarries were cut into the east and northeast facing coastal cliffs where alum bearing shales were exposed. Once the cliffs were cut back, processing of the alum was carried out on the enlarging quarry floors. The first stage of processing was calcination, remains of which survive as burnt shale, particularly on the sea edge of the central quarry. The next stage was steeping which occured in stone lined pits, some of which survive throughout the quarry floor. In the later use of the site the raw liquor thus produced was stored and then sent to the nearby alum house (NZ 81 SE 496) by timber channels known as liquor troughs, part of which survive within a stone tunnel. Remains of other structures such as workshops, offices, stores and a laboratory survive on the quarry floor. At the northern quarry, Deep Grove, cement stone was also extracted from mines and processed at a mill south of Sandsend. Cement stone was mined from 1811 to 1933 and overlapped the last 50 or so years of alum production. Scheduled.

Country:  ENGLAND

County:  NORTH YORKSHIRE

District:  SCARBOROUGH

Parish:  LYTHE

Grid Reference:   NZ85881365

Map Reference:  [EPSG:27700] 485880, 513650

Period:  MODERN, POST MEDIEVAL, 1733, 1811, 1880, 1933

Subject:  ALUM QUARRY, EARTHWORK, LABORATORY, OFFICE, RUINED BUILDING, STEEPING PIT, STONE QUARRY, STOREHOUSE, STRUCTURE, WORKSHOP

Identifiers: 
[ADS] Depositor Id: NZ 81 SE 43
[ADS] Import RCN: NMR_NATINV-1118514

People Involved: 
[Publisher] Historic England