9 Ladies

The 9 Ladies protest camp which was set up in 1999 to oppose the quarrying of 3.2 million tonnes of stone from a 30 hectare site in the Peak District National Park, England, is facing imminient eviction.

The 4,000 year old Iron Age Stone Circle, Nine Ladies, has over the 20th Century, been threatened by quarrying. Lees Cross and Endcliffe are old dormant quarries lying on the eastern moorside just below the stones, but after 50 years of not being worked the area is now heavily wooded.

If the quarry goes ahead the Duke of Rutland, owner of Haddon Hall will make around £100 million and the quarry company will no doubt make more and a 100m deep scar will blight a beautiful, and well loved landscape (arial view of the site).

The protest camp consists of tree houses and benders scattered across the whole site, many in places that are inaccessible to vehicals, most linked up with rope walkways.

The final legal steps to evict the protestors were completed at the end of January and attempts to evict the protestors are now expected at any time.

[ Excavations at Nine Ladies for English Heritage, November 2000 | Nine Ladies Stone Circle - heritage under threat | Things needed at the site and addresses to write protest letters to | Photos (12 large images) | Photo Gallery | Arial view of the site | Video: rtsp://www.piratetv.net/archive/ptvaltmedia/nineladiesmix.rm | Video (real format) | Protestors press release: Eco Warriors send profits warning to Marshalls Plc - 06-02-2004 | Audio: Interview (mp3) and transcript ]

Background

Stanton Moor near the village of Stanton-in-the-Peak, is a place of outstanding natural beauty, where lush woodlands lead to the top of a hill and the ancient sacred site of the Nine Ladies Stone Circle. The whole area is a haven to fallow deer, badgers, rare bats and plants and there are natural springs that supply water to the local village.

Stancliffe Stone Ltd and Marshall's PLC want to re-open two dormant quarries, Endcliffe and Lees Cross which have lain dormant since the 1950s. The companies now want to extract 2.4 million tonnes of gritstone from the hillside over the next 40 years. This means quarrying 35 acres of woodland to within 250 metres of the stone circle and leaving behind 1.2 million tonnes of spoil.

A direct outcome of this will be the degradation of the hillside and the setting of the Nine Ladies Stone Circle and the destruction of the local eco-system, as well as a rise of noise and pollution levels in the wider area due to increased lorry traffic. There are further fears that quarrying will cause landslides, as the site lies along a geological fault line, and that local spring water supplies will be affected. All this for the noble cause of supplying building materials for projects such as McDonalds in Blackpool (judging by the case of another quarry in the nearby area).

History

1952

Stancliffe Obtains Lease of Mineral Rights to Endcliffe and Lees Cross Quarries from landowner, the Duke of Rutland, Haddon Hall. The Quarries are given planning consent because of the pressing need for postwar building materials.

1995

Under the environment act Lees Cross and Endcliffe are declared dormant (inactive). The operator is NOT allowed to work a dormant quarry unless working practices have been agreed with the Peak District National Park Authority. Stancliffe is given time to disagree with this decision and does not do so.

1999

Stancliffe make a submission to agree working practices and reopen the quarries. The submission meets widespread opposition and is cannot considered because the environmental impact assessment is not adequate. Nine Ladies Anti-Quarry Campaign, a protest site situated in the quarries themselves is set up.

2001

Stancliffe is bought out by the much larger Marshalls PLC.

2002

7th March, one of the protstors, Jo, tragically died in a fire.

2003

Marshalls submit a new scheme for working, with the necessary paperwork, to reopen the quarries and extract 3.2 million tons of rock. If the Peak District National Park Authority revokes the existing consent, they may be liable compensation equal to the market value of the stone. There is no way the authority can come up with this sum which could be more than £100 million.

2004

22nd January, Possession Court Order obtained, 23rd January papers served -- eviction now imminent!

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