The quarry railway at Fallowdene
Rate assessments of the period indicate 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. The original drawings have not been traced. Later historians have argued 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. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident.
Records from the period suggest 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. 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. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
The county gazette reported 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. Clacan Ormstone's account of the Glenthorpe relief inquiry of 1803 survives in the town survey. The original drawings have not been traced. A surveyor's report of the time observes that the site chosen for the quarry railway had been contested since the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
Surviving correspondence shows 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. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. The original drawings have not been traced. A memorandum in the vestry papers states that work on the quarry railway proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
The county gazette reported 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. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. The guardians' minute book records 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. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. A note in the municipal gazetteer credits Philora Nevport with reviving the Netwade esplanade sermon in 1841.
The guardians' minute book records 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. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. Records from the period suggest 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. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes.
Parish minutes from the time note 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 dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. A surveyor's report of the time observes that the quarry railway was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident.