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This site is the former headquarters of the extensive Oxfordshire Ironstone Quarries. Quarrying commenced in January 1919 and the output was carried by the quarry's own railway to the Great Western Main line at SP463429 just north of Banbury. Much of the course of this railway can still be traced today (such as SP4042 : Course of Oxfordshire Ironstone Quarry Railway and SP4242 : Site of Drayton Crossing) as it is variously a footpath, cycle way and nature reserve.

The extensive quarry network extended to the NW eventually reaching Alkerton under SP3943 : Dyke Lane Bridge and SP3943 : Course of Ironstone quarry railway. It also ran to the SW through SP3942 : Site of Langley Ironstone Quarry and SP3942 : Stratford Road bridge and Balscote ironstone quarry.

The quarries eventually closed in September 1967 however the buildings on this site continued to be used for a variety of purposes and are now the Apollo SP4042 : Developments at Oxfordshire Ironstone Quarries Headquarters site.

Historical detail courtesy of "The Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands - Part II The Oxfordshire Field" by Eric Tonks, published by Moor Graphics, April 1988. ISBN 1-870754-02-6