There were literally hundreds of Bath Stone quarries, mostly started by a couple of individuals as a very small concern. As they became profitable, they expanded to follow the good quality stone and some became connected with their neighbour’s quarries accidently or on purpose in order to share access shafts. Others ran out of viable stone and were subsequently abandonned.
As the quarries were evolving, their names invariably became confusing, usually they were originally named after the person, family or company who sunk or drove the first shaft or adit but of course this in itself was confusing if there was another quarry nearby in the same ownership.
In the Box/Corsham areas many of the quarries were identified by their proximity to the nearest of the seven air shafts for Box Tunnel – for example ‘Stones No.4 Box’ Also, rescue organisations have tended to number the quarries for quick identification when needed, or the quarry inherited the name from a local landmark.
