About Gypsum

(Just in case anyone wants to know!)

Anyone who has travelled along the A66 between Penrith and Appleby will know very well British Gypsum at Kirkby Thore, because of the steam rising against the hills in the background. They will also no doubt have come across their wagons turning in or out at Kirkby Thore and creating traffic holdups.

Gypsum has been mined and quarried in the Eden Valley for over 200 years and has provided, over that time, employment for many people, both in mining, and in manufacturing. There are several people in our village who have worked in the industry, some all their working lives, and some still do. It will be the same in the villages all around.

A simple (non-scientific) guide to Gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulphate mineral found in many places all around the world. It is particularly plentiful in the Cumbria’s Eden Valley. It was used originally for fertiliser, but now has many other uses, some quite surprising. The main way in which it is used is to make plaster and plasterboard for building, or what British Gypsum call ‘interior lining systems’! Gypsum is ground to a powder and then heated to evaporate water. If you look at the extra picture on yesterday’s blip you will see at the base of the figure some lumps of white rock – that’s gypsum as it comes out of the ground. If you look at today’s picture you can see heaps of processed gypsum.

The British Gypsum plant at Kirkby Thore (pictured here) is one of five main manufacturing locations in England and it is also a training centre (Technical Academy!) The place is not quite as big as it looks here and you have to be quite close up to see it, as it nestles below the hills.
 
This is a very brief summary of Gypsum and its uses. There is a lot more information to be found on the Internet.