At first glance it might seem that the archaeologists and historians at Rocks by Rail have unearthed some very fine examples of prehistoric archaeology in the form of iron age spear heads! Fearsome stuff for those unweary travellers in these parts 3,000 years ago!

In reality, our curatorial team have put on display some of the eye catching items in the collection which date from the Victorian quarrying period – in this case the teeth from an early quarry digger, discarded and lost for many years until found in spoil on the Museum site.

The team have created a landscaped area opposite the original concrete loading dock  on the quarry trail in which to display these and other finds from the Museum site itself. A number of large pulleys, castings and rollers are other early quarry machinery artefacts on which the curious visiting historian can muse and wonder.

The ‘iron teeth’ from the ancient quarry ‘monsters’ are displayed next to the fragments of narrow gauge rail, pointwork and haulage equipment which was found when we redeveloped the Museum site – it is now laid out to resemble the way I which it would have been assembled in use.

Archaeology in this area has revealed the concrete and brick footings of the 1935 and 1957 tipping dock construction – an interesting series of features which we hope to preserve as an intrinsic part of the site history.