Gallagher open days mark official tunnel opening that means Kentish Ragstone will continue to benefit the built environment.

On a sunny Friday in September customers and guests of the Gallagher Group gathered at the independent firm’s Hermitage Quarry near Maidstone in Kent to witness the official opening of a tunnel that gives the business access to another 25 years worth of top quality Kentish Ragstone.

Among the supporters of the extension was English Heritage (now Historic England) which wanted to ensure the last major source of Kentish Ragstone continued to produce the historically important stone – a stone that has been used in many significant buildings in the South East, including the Tower of London and the Guildhall in London, Igtham Moat, the 14th century West Gate in Canterbury (the last of the city’s gates still standing) many churches and bridges and the castles of Leeds in Maidstone, Whitstable and Rochester.

The Cathedral at Rochester, finished in 604, making it the second oldest in the country, also has Kentish Ragstone in it, as does the oldest cathedral of them all, Canterbury.

The masonry side of the business is headed by Vince Tourle, whose background in the traditional stone industry means he is familiar with the heritage sector. Gallagher is currently supplying stone to Szerelmey for restoration work at Rochester Cathedral and to Pierra Restoration at Knowle House in Sevenoaks and at St Peter’s Church in Thanet.

Not that the stone is supplied purely for the heritage sector. The latest new build in Kentish Ragstone has seen 600m2 of walling built for a golf club in Hemel Hempstead and the stone has also been used for a housing development just across the road from Hermitage Quarry. Gallagher is understandably keen to encourage builders and developers all over the country to use the stone for new build as well as heritage work.

“We are not planning on retiling Bluewater,” says Vince, referring to the huge shopping mall near the Gallagher quarry, “we just want to do nice, bespoke work.”

A £500,000 investment in stone processing machinery at Hermitage Quarry includes Van Voorden and Gilbert primary saws, a 1200 Auto Wells Wellcut, a GMM Axia, a Thibaut 108L polisher, Steinex croppers and a tumbler for walling. And a gantry crane has been installed in the sawing shed for handling the block and slab.

The stone is available as walling, paving, setts, flooring and tiles in polished, honed, flamed and brushed finishes.

The dimensional stone part of the Gallagher business is small in volume terms. Around 750,000 tonnes of stone leave Hermitage Quarry each year and all the different forms of stone on the masonry side of the business accounted for only 1,200 tonnes of that in the past year. In the year to the end of September 2014 sales of the aggregates business were well over £22million. The development of the dimensional stone side of the business is still new but in the past year it has contributed some £550,000 to turnover.

But its contribution towards securing the planning permission for the extension of the quarry is inestimable. The extension goes into ancient woodland that nature heritage forces, both local and national, were keen to protect. The needs of the built heritage and Gallagher’s long record of exemplary restoration of quarried land and benefit to the local community played their parts in winning the arguments.

“I always knew the work was going to be there,” says Vince. “Proving it was an opportunity I couldn’t resist. It was a once in a lifetime chance to bring a significant stone back into the market and show its real qualities.”

Kentish Ragstone is a hard, grey, sandy limestone. It has not always had the best press over the years, although the stone from Hermitage Quarry is a particularly good example of it as a building and paving stone. “The demand is most definitely there,” says Vince. “We have to make the most of it and maximise output.”

The tunnel that provides access to the new area of land to be quarried was designed and constructed by the Gallagher team. It is 100m long, 16m wide, 15m high and cost £1million. It allows local residents and horse riders to continue to enjoy an established by-way. And when the land is restored after the stone has been won, Pat Gallagher, chairman of the Gallagher Group, promises the wood will be replanted.

Pat was joined at the official opening of the tunnel by Councillor Mark Dance, Kent County Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development, who said: “Pat and his team have built a business that Kent can be truly proud of.” He said the quarry was producing indigenous building stone for newbuild and restoration projects, as well as providing employment for local people.