magnum bonum, sans pareil, nec plus ultra

[Redroger]

A short google strongly suggests that parliamentary approval was given for a railway at Holmfirth in 1830, the dates certainly fit.

[bykerlads]

Very interested to learn about the Lindley owners and also about the Sans Pareil engine- a connection ther does seem possible.
As regards using foreign names having a certain style or cachet to it, it's interesting to think that the owners had aspirations to be a bit different, to show themselves to be that bit more  educated.
I just wonder how "sans pareil" would have been pronounced locally, and by my very Yorkshire forebears in particular!

[Redroger]

Not a native Yorkshireman though I lived there over 40 years, I think Sanparay might fit the bill. but no doubt there will be other versions.

[Holmemoss]

The's some bloody good stone here.

[bykerlads]

As a fellow descendant of Magnum quarrymen, I think we can say that there is some of our blood in those stones.
Also, those with an interest in the Holme valley may like to know that there is a super painting, available as a print by David Quirke " View from Bare Bones Road down the Holme Valley".Bare Bones Rd. is at Magnum and the picture is a huge panorama right down the valley. You could just be sitting up there, it's so good.

[DigleyMill]

I'm attaching a map which might be of some interest. It's taken from the 1834 enclosures maps and I have overlayed the information from the relevant bits of Holme and Cartworth townships to create a composite covering the main quarry areas.

As you probably know, the township boundaries around magnum are a mess, with a bit of Holme wrapping round a bit of Wooldale and a detached bit of Cartworth. You need to see the Wooldale map too to get the full picture, but most of the areas relevant to the quarries are covered here.

You also need to look at it in conjunction with the the 1852 OS map, which I have an extract for this area, but suspect I may not be able to post it because of copyright.

The main quarries from 1852  tie up as follows:

Ellentree - parcels 110, 111, and part of 109 (H Lumb)
Ne Plus Ultra quarry (!) and Magnum Bonum - parcels 112 (J Firth), 113, 114
Round End quarry (Bare Bones) - parcel 117
Goose Hole quarry - parcels 232, 233
(One which I can't make out the name, north of Bare Bones Road) - parcel 214 (Joshua Littlewood & Benj Beeley)
Speedwell quarry and Non Pareil - part of 118 (John Harpin), 120 (W Bates) & 131 (S Morehouse)

I'm guessing that many of the quarries may have started up at around the time of the Enclosures Maps, or shortly after?

The other bit of info I have is from an account of a Home Valley Civic Society talk by Gordon Hallas (weekend Examiner 4th June 2011):
"Magnum Bonum Quarry had more than 60 people working in it in 1861, producing stone for local buildings and flagstones for railway platforms. The workers at Magnum Bonum Quarry lived in a group of cottages built for them in the hamlet of Magnum above Hade Edge."

And in relation to my 2x ggf John Turner, born 1821 in Elland:
(My own notes): Moved from Elland as a young man some time before 1840, to work at Magnum Bonum Quarries, Harden Moss, where he met and married Emma Mitchell, whose family had also moved from the Halifax/Northowram area to work at Magnum. He started out as a labourer ("stone getter" or "delver") through to 1854 (Matilda's baptism) but appears to have improved his lot as by 1861 he was described as a "stone merchant and grocer"; by 1871 he was a "quarry owner and stone merchant". At his death in 1889 he left a personal estate of £1,969.

As I live in a distant part of Lancashire, it's difficult to get access to West Yorkshire archives, so I'd be really interested if anyone can point me to any documents that might shed more light on the operation and ownershhip of the quarries.

[bykerlads]

Thanks for adding to the Magnum information- it's very interesting - it confirms what I had deduced about the date when my ancestors moved to Magnum to work:
Crispin Sykes b. 1811 Rastrick m'd Hannah Schofield at Almondbury in Apr.1834, both were resident in Upperthong ie part of Holmfirth. He was living at New Laithe ( Underbank, Holmfirth) when his first child died in Dec. 1835.
It looks as if the workers came to Magnum but only settled there to live when they had quarried enough stone to build houses for themselves. This must have been after Nov. 1838 when Wilson Sykes was b. with the family still at New Laithe but before the 1841 census, when they were at Mountpleasant.

[Redroger]

Just a thought, I see that some of the land was owned by the Duke of Leeds, have you looked to see whether there is a family website/archive?

[DigleyMill]

A quick google reveals that there are lot of pubs called the Duke of Leeds!!

An interesting suggestion, though, so thanks, I'll check it out a bit more carefully.