Bedrock of Bolsover

Our project was made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we built a cross-section of a traditional Bolsover building. The “little house”, as lots of the children took to calling it! The house comprised of earth-mortared, 2-foot thick magnesian limestone walls, with a diminishing magnesian limestone roof pitched over it, all constructed with traditional methods and materials.

We were lucky enough to be exhibiting in the grounds of Bolsover Castle, so our “little house” made a great counterpoint to the magnificent curtain wall and elegant keep of the Castle. We sourced the stone from Tarmac’s quarry at Whitwell, which is the nearest currently operating magnesian limestone quarry to the original Bolsover quarries which produced the stone for the Castle, and many other famous buildings. Through a (mostly) sunny day, it shone with the signature golden hue that makes Bolsover Castle so iconic and distinctive. Tarmac sent along an information banner, and we had interesting conversations throughout the day with people whose lives have been impacted, in little and in large ways, by the quarry and the stone it produces.

One of the highlights of the day was being able to involve members of the public, and particularly children, in the process of building the structure: from many hands making light work of pointing up the stone walls, to carefully laying stone slates on the roof, not to mention the hundreds of questions we answered and asked throughout the day, it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm local residents and the wider public have for the built heritage of this very special town.