Red Mansfield Dolomitic Sandstone

A detail of flaggy beds in the Red Mansfield dolomitic sandstone

When investigating Bolsover in North-East Derbyshire, the Stagecoach No. 53 bus from Sheffield took me through various villages with mediaeval churches – and I later took advantage of this route again to explore Barlborough and Eckington. 

The Pronto bus waiting at Chesterfield Coach Station

Having by now managed to organise these days out from Treeton using three buses each way, while returning to Sheffield via Chesterfield, I discovered the Stagecoach Pronto bus, which runs hourly to Mansfield on the way to Nottingham. 

An exposure of Red Mansfield stone in the Wickes car park

A few days after my trip to Ashover, I decided to go to Mansfield and, when arriving in the outskirts, I caught sight of an expanse of red rock behind Wickes from the top deck of the bus. With my curiosity being aroused, I immediately rang the bell, got off at the next stop and went back to investigate. 

The old quarry face at the rear of Wickes

Having briefly looked at the rock faces to the rear of Wickes, where my views were partially obscured by the rock netting, I made some enquiries about the ownership of the rest of the old quarry and was given permission to go and have a close look at the old quarry faces - although I had to pick my way through numerous cars. 

A close up view of the quarry face behind Wickes

The old Sill's Quarry, although now long since disused, was once the principal supplier of Red Mansfield stone that, along with White Mansfield stone quarried at the Gregory Quarry, gained a national reputation durability during the C19. 

A map of the geology around Mansfield

The British Geological Survey memoir records a working quarry 50 feet deep, with the top 20 feet of lighter coloured rock being discarded and only the lower part of the quarry being used for building stone. The memoir goes on to mention that the block size, hardness and quartz content increases with depth in the quarry. 

A general view of an old quarry face

Generally, the dolomitic sandstone is in massive horizontal beds but at higher levels, especially when highlighted by weathering beneath the subsoil, it is cross-bedded and flaggy in nature and this is clearly unsuitable for use as a building stone. 

Differentially weathered beds

On weathered surfaces the stone exhibits a distinct laminated structure and, on close examination, is seen to contain very thin beds of finer grained siltstone and mudstone that are differentially weathered.

Samples of Red Mansfield stone