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Slipton: former ironstone quarry and railway

From the 1870s until the 1930s this quiet valley was full of iron ore and limestone quarries, supplying Islip Ironworks. The main line of the narrow-gauge railway which served the quarries and mines ran along the low wooded embankment to the right. The large field which takes up most of the picture was the Home Close quarry, active in the 1890s before quarrying was abandoned in favour of mining under the hills to the west of Sudborough Road and to the east between Slipton and Lowick. Ore extraction in this part of East Northamptonshire ended in 1952.