La rue de L'Epine

A day with showers and sunshine. Today's blip is of a disused quarry that has filled with water. A century ago Guernsey had a thriving industry in granite and there were 268 quarries, mostly in the North. Dressed blue granite (Diorite) was used by Victorian Britain for road building and was used for the steps of St. Pauls Cathedral and the Embankment. The peak year was in 1910 when 458,000 tons of granite were shipped. The development of ashphalt signalled the decline in the industry. We now only have a single quarry that supplies the needs of the island. Many of the quarries that remain are now used as water reservoirs and several of the largest have been completely refilled with domestic refuse. One close to the sea had a channel created to connect it and became a yacht marina while another is a fish farm. The legacy of the industry is the large number of granite built houses, barns and walls that give Guernsey a particular identity.