Cotswold Hill Stone & Masonry company, which quarries in the Cotswolds, has taken over operation of Birch Hill Quarry in the Forest of Dean from Taylor & Martin. Chris Taylor, who is 63, will continue working at the quarry part-time.

Birch Hill supplies Forest Pennant block, walling, cropped and sawn and split coursed building stone, together with rockery and aged ½tonne to 8tonne natural blocks.

Cotswold Hill has planning permission to build a shed in Birch Hill Quarry from which it will start sawing the stone. It aims to produce paving to capitalise on the success its new neighbour, Forest of Dean Stone Firms, has had with its Royal Forest Pennant paving.

Cotswold Hill’s Roger Townend told NSS in January: “On Monday we had our first order for paving. It is 30mm thick for a patio.”

Cotswold Hill has a 25-year lease on Birch Hill quarry with about 13m to go to reach the boundary of the existing planning permission and still 6m of stone in the ground below the current bed. There are no planning restrictions on how much stone can be recovered nor on lorry movements. There is currently just Chris Taylor working in the quarry with another person recruited to learn the ropes from Chris. Roger Townend says Cotswold Hill wanted to make the most of Chris’s knowledge about the stone and the quarry. “He knows it all,” says Roger.

When the saw shed is up and running, Roger says the Forest of Dean business will be established as a separate company.

Cotswold Hill Stone & Masonry has been producing building, walling, flooring, architectural dressings, flagstones, fireplaces and any other masonry customers want in a variety of stones for both trade and private customers since 1982.

Cotswold Hill Stone & Masonry Director Tim Beetson says: “We are, in fact, a one stop shop able to offer technical assistance right through to hand carving, delivery to site and fixing. Recent contracts include supplies of stone to Europe and Japan.”

Fixing is arranged either through Cotswold Hill’s associated building company or other skilled local craftsmen.

The company has supplied stone for a variety of projects in the UK, from fine houses to famous historic buildings including the Houses of Parliament, Hampton Court Palace and Blenheim Palace.

In the Cotswolds, the stone is dug from the Guiting group of sedimentary limestones at Temple Guiting. It is available in two colours – honey and cream. Cotswold Hill also stocks and processes a variety of stone from other sources, including ironstone.

The Forest of Dean stone is blue and greeny-grey, as the photos here show.

One of the first jobs Cotswold Hill has done since taking over Birch Hill Quarry is to give it a presence on the internet (birchhillpennantquarry.com). There is only one page at the moment giving a few brief details, contact names, telephone numbers and emails and a link to the Cotswold Hill Stone & Masonry website.