Erith Quarry

Erith Quarry - Talk by Ken Chamberlain on Erith Quarry This event requires booking to attend. Tickets cost £5 per person. To book tickets, email archives@bexley.gov.uk or visit the centre . From the seventeenth century the riverside town of Erith was a major port on the River Thames, with ships arriving from the East and West Indies and unloading their cargos. For the return journey to far-off lands the ships required ballast, which the town had aplenty. Later it was found that beneath the ballast there was loam, also known as moulding sand, which was used in foundries, particularly in the north of England. And so began a trade that changed the landscape of the town forever. Quarrying ceased around 1970. The quarry was then used as a landfill site after which it remained dormant for thirty years. Today the quarry is the site of a huge housing development, including a school and a shop. Local historian Ken Chamberlain will bring the history of the quarry to life in this illustrated talk.