Fawler- “The Blenheim Ore “
This is another early working area which started just 6 years behind the Northamptonshire region, it is a rather isolated mine so we felt we should include this.
Fawler has always been a site of interest especially with geologists even in the early times when it was first being worked, another point that makes it interesting is that most of the materials being extracted were used, clay for brick building and limestone for burning. surface mining started in 1859 with multiple owners trying various methods, over burden was a early on a issue making production rather slow. There is proof a pony driver worked in the mine in 1886, luckily we have this proof from a geologists journal his name was Fred Oliver. A tunnel was driven under the road to the railway sidings, from here attempts was made to mine the ore in galleries, it is unknown the true amounts of ore which was got by mining. Fred Oliver had told the geologist a large amount had been got. The 1884 OS map which shows the site as a disused “iron mine” as usual the dates contradict each other but this is common when working from old notes
Early on the damp and misty morning of 2nd November 1964, Peckett 0-4-0 saddle tank Maude (W/No.1937 of 1938) simmers, adjacent to a rake of loaded internal tippler wagons, in the Oxfordshire Ironstone Company’s reception sidings and destined for the crushing plant at Wroxton.
photo by Gordon Edgar
Another area with good ironstone history is Hook Norton –
https://hook-norton.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Ironstone-Industry.pdf