A DISUSED disused quarry at the centre of a controversy over plans to fill it with builder's rubble has a fascinating history stretching back about 200 million yeares.
The Middridge Quarry, near Newton Aycliffe, was opened after the Second World War - close to the original Middridge Quarry which opened in the nineteenth century to provide stone for the construction of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Work on the new quarry destroyed the remains of the disused Eden Pit, and its miner’s terraced housing.
Read more: Fury over plans to fill in Middridge Quarry near Newton Aycliffe
Commercial excavation of the quarry exposed fossil-rich marl slate. The fossil plands discovered in this slate include the oldest British Ginko (probably the oldest member of the Ginkgoaceae found anywhere in the world), and probably the oldest British Cycad.
A new member of the Pteridosperm family was also discovered, which was named Pseudoctensis middridgensis to commemorate where it was found.
Equally famous for its vertebrate faunas, Middridge Quarry has yielded 11 species of fossil fish, reptiles and invertebrates.
As a result of these finds the Middridge Quarry, near Middridge Village, is considered the second most important site for fossils from the Permian Era (298.9 to 252.17 million years ago) in the world - after a much larger site in Germany.
In 1979 the Middridge Quarry was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), in order to preserve it intact for the future, and has been disused ever since.
"Then the Charles Pit, which was in the village itself was opened in 1874. That pit is under what is now the village play area.
"The two were linked via a tramway, which carried coal wagons up and down to the Eden pit, with coal loaded onto wagons on the famous Stockton Darlington Railway.
"A parish path which you can walk from the village to the quarry is exactly on the line of that tramway. you can still see the stone abutments.
"It crossed the road over a trestle bridge, which I have a photograph of. In fact there are people alive in the village who can remember seeing it."
Propsals to fill the quarry with thousands of tonnes of builders' rubble have have come under fire from neighbouring residents.
People fear if plans go ahead it could involve years of large tipper trucks transporting waste up the quiet Walker's Lane - used by walkers, runners, bird watchers and horse riders.
Darlington-based Ward Brothers Steel Ltd, say its proposals, yet to be finalised, will see the transformation of the site, which has become a magnet for anti-social behaviour.
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