Perhaps my favourite story of Springtime …
There was a tradition amongst the Brown Edge quarrymen concerning the first bumblebee of the summer. When the first bee of the year was seen, the then owner of the quarry, Henry Hancock, put five shillings to the men’s two shillings and the youngest quarryman was detailed to take an empty barrow to the Norfolk Arms and return with several gallons of beer. 🍻🐝
I imagine not much quarrying got done the rest of that day!
Brown Edge Quarry lies between Ringinglow Road and Brown Edge Farm above the Norfolk Arms. The quarry was worked from at least 1836 and provided good quality stone slates for the building trade. It closed about 1873. Henry Hancock owned the quarry for about its last decade.
It’s an easily accessible area now rich in flora and fauna. If you go for a visit don’t miss the WW2 aircraft crash engine parts that are hiding in plain sight on your walk in from Ringinglow Rd, and it’s also worth a diversion to take in the holloway that runs east from Brown Edge
(SK 28105 83836).