Lincolnshire Limestone, the Power behind Aston Martin
Discussion
200 year anniversary open day at Singleton Birch Quarry, formerly owned by Lionel Martin (Saturday 18th July 2015)
Keen Aston Martin enthusiasts will of course be aware that the company’s founder, Lionel Martin was born into a successful family whose wealth came from quarrying.
Amazingly, the family owned quarry at Melton Ross, North Lincolnshire is still operating and is celebrating 200 years of digging up limestone this year.
To quote the company's website, "In 1915, Lionel Martin became a director of the company but at this time he did not play a significant part in the day to day running of the business. He was more interested in cars, particularly fast cars, giving his name to the legendary Aston Martin car. His autobiography covers in great detail his racing exploits and there is reference to his quarrying interests in Lincolnshire helping to fund what started off as a hobby." After the early demise of Aston-Martin, Lionel gave more of his time to the more profitable limestone industry. After his death in 1944, his wife inherited the shares and the company is still majority owned by the Katherine Martin Trust.
This year marks the 200 year anniversary of Singleton Birch with an open day from 10am on Saturday 18th July at their site - Melton Ross Quarries, Barnetby, DN38 6AE. It’s totally free entry, just turn up. There aretours of the quarry in mini-busses, a bit of hospitality and big BIG trucks. Don’t worry too much about the dust and nice clean paintwork as it really isn’t too bad at all. Used to be an issue but I’ll be taking my AM down there later this week. A one-off opportunity to visit a site with deep Aston Martin connections but a place normally well off limits to the public.
So, if you are at a loose end this Saturday (18th) and fancy a drive, this would seem to be a great opportunity to samples the wonderful quiet roads of North Lincolnshire. If you fancy a pub lunch afterwards, I can recommend one of my personal favourites (and motorbike legend Guy Martin's local!), the Marrowbone and Cleaver in nearby Kirmington. It's only two miles from the quarry. Brigg is also nearby, S
horpe and Barton are 20 minutes away.
You can find out more the quarry and where they are based here : http://www.singletonbirch.co.uk/find-us
Keen Aston Martin enthusiasts will of course be aware that the company’s founder, Lionel Martin was born into a successful family whose wealth came from quarrying.
Amazingly, the family owned quarry at Melton Ross, North Lincolnshire is still operating and is celebrating 200 years of digging up limestone this year.
To quote the company's website, "In 1915, Lionel Martin became a director of the company but at this time he did not play a significant part in the day to day running of the business. He was more interested in cars, particularly fast cars, giving his name to the legendary Aston Martin car. His autobiography covers in great detail his racing exploits and there is reference to his quarrying interests in Lincolnshire helping to fund what started off as a hobby." After the early demise of Aston-Martin, Lionel gave more of his time to the more profitable limestone industry. After his death in 1944, his wife inherited the shares and the company is still majority owned by the Katherine Martin Trust.
This year marks the 200 year anniversary of Singleton Birch with an open day from 10am on Saturday 18th July at their site - Melton Ross Quarries, Barnetby, DN38 6AE. It’s totally free entry, just turn up. There aretours of the quarry in mini-busses, a bit of hospitality and big BIG trucks. Don’t worry too much about the dust and nice clean paintwork as it really isn’t too bad at all. Used to be an issue but I’ll be taking my AM down there later this week. A one-off opportunity to visit a site with deep Aston Martin connections but a place normally well off limits to the public.
So, if you are at a loose end this Saturday (18th) and fancy a drive, this would seem to be a great opportunity to samples the wonderful quiet roads of North Lincolnshire. If you fancy a pub lunch afterwards, I can recommend one of my personal favourites (and motorbike legend Guy Martin's local!), the Marrowbone and Cleaver in nearby Kirmington. It's only two miles from the quarry. Brigg is also nearby, S
horpe and Barton are 20 minutes away.You can find out more the quarry and where they are based here : http://www.singletonbirch.co.uk/find-us
Singleton Birch was the original colour name for the DB5. Unfortunantly someone at Pinewood studios mis-heard and called it "silver birch". The rest as they say...
Oh, you know people are always saying Astons have that "granit, hewn from solid feel...". Well, this quarry still mines the "feel" which is sold to Aston, amongst others
Oh, you know people are always saying Astons have that "granit, hewn from solid feel...". Well, this quarry still mines the "feel" which is sold to Aston, amongst others
Jon39 said:
Remarkable. You would think that all the limestone would have been extracted, before 200 years had passed. It must now be an enormous hole in the ground.
Oddly, it isn't. They refill the bits that they have taken and grass them over so you couldn't tell. Also a huge proportion of what they remove is useful product so there are no 'slag heaps'. I should think Lincolnshire has enough limestone to last for millennia Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff