Quarry Warehouse, Dallam Tower Estate, Sandside, Cumbria- Building Investigation

The Dallam Tower Estate were granted planning permission by the South Lakes District Council (SLDC) for the refurbishment and conversion of the property known as Quarry Warehouse, Sandside, Cumbria (SD 48054 80842). The Cumbria County Historic Environment Service (CCHES) advised that a condition be imposed for a programme of archaeological investigation to take place prior to redevelopment. A verbal brief was issued, and, due to the condition of the building, an external only English Heritage Level-II investigation was recommended. Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned to carry out the work, which was duly undertaken in June 2010.

The Quarry Warehouse is located approximately 2km to the south-west of the village of Milnthorpe, immediately to the north of Sandside Quarry. It stands to the west of a disused double limekiln, and to the immediate south of a dismantled railway line.

The gable-end stone-built building is rectangular in plan, and set into the hillside, making it three storeys to the front elevation and only two to the rear. The earliest documentary evidence for the warehouse suggests it had origins in at least the late eighteenth century. The building has retained its plan since first appearing on the Haverbrack tithe map of 1839. At this time the warehouse had a wharf, suggesting it was being used to store goods being moved by either river or sea, at least until the construction of the Furness Railway in 1876.
The building investigation serves as a full record of the warehouse and no further work, other than a photographic survey of the interior, is recommended.