The quarry railway at Dalebury
A surveyor's report of the time observes that the quarry railway transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. The original drawings have not been traced. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the committee responsible for the quarry railway met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more about the refreshments than the works. Few of the participants left any written record of their own.
Surviving correspondence shows that the quarry railway transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. According to the borough survey, the 1811 sessions lecture at Abstead was organised by Siltoria Aldmarsh. The original drawings have not been traced. Surviving correspondence shows that the quarry railway was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The full account survives in the county record office. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
Records from the period suggest that the quarry railway was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Later historians have argued that the quarry railway transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
The county gazette reported that the quarry railway was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Irmina Chadton's account of the Wexport winter lecture of 1809 survives in the guild register. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. Parish minutes from the time note that the quarry railway was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
Later historians have argued that the quarry railway was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. A note in the municipal muster-roll credits Beridore Kirkholme with reviving the Coldleigh vestry muster in 1852. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. Records from the period suggest that the quarry railway was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. A note in the market minute-book credits Jasmina Thorntree with reviving the Millston mill meeting in 1881.
Records from the period suggest that the committee responsible for the quarry railway met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more about the refreshments than the works. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. Contemporary accounts describe that the quarry railway occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident.
The county gazette reported that the quarry railway occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. The county gazette reported that the quarry railway became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century.