322 



Geology of Wiltshire. 



not long in seizing upon the opportunity which these circumstances appeared to 

 offer for the establishment of a large trade, and in 1845 they commenced the 

 undertaking, which has since attained its present large proportions. Nothing 

 can be more unlike the ordinary experiences of mining excursions than a visit 

 to the Corsham Quarries. Those who have suffered in various parts of the 

 country from hot, damp, and dirty scrambles through underground passages, 

 will have a sense of surprise and pleasure when they first set foot within the 

 wide, lofty, and well ventilated roads which ramify for miles through the bowels 

 of Box-hill. The accompanying map will explain the general arrangement of 



the quarries. All the workings which have yet been opened, are situate on the 

 northern side of the tunnel. They are divided into two distiicts, called res- 

 pectively the Corsham Down and Box-hill quarries; the former occupying the 

 eastern, and the latter the western, side of the hill. Entrance to both of these 

 is obtained at the Corsham end, where the main road (A) joins the Great 

 Western Railway on a level ; a communication between the two sides being 

 established by means of the road (B), along which all the Box stone is hauled 

 to the railway trucks. Both these roads run parallel ■with the tunnel, 

 debouching, as we have seen, upon the main line, and puzzling visitors 

 strange to the locality with the apparently anomalous phenomenon of a double 

 entrance to Mr. Brunei's great work. The dimensions of this approach almost 

 rival those of its neighbour, permitting the ingress of two rows of waggons for 



