Can any one tell me if there were gravel pits in Brent Pelham? I have a Brett ancestor whose death in 1849 ,I have just discovered from his death certificate, was due to an accident while working in a gravel pit.

Many thanks

Lyndsey

Although there are gravel pits in Brent Pelham they are not very big nor is the gravel very good. I believe that accidents in gravel pits are normally caused dy a bank giving way and burying the victim, or drowning. Both these would be difficult but not immpossible to achieve in the pits that currently exist. Of course much may have changed over the intervening years.
The most likely candidate is the pit between Beaches Wood and Old End. Why there should be gravel deposits there, in the middle of the heaviest of clay fields, is beyond me. The experts mutter about Glaciers which I think means that they haven`t got a clue. This pit was partially filled in some 40 years ago.
There was another pit on the edge of the Little Bourne near the bottom of the Whitebarns drive and this produced some reasonable stone. It is not now recognisable as a pit having had its contours altered by a parachute mine. Being next to a stream it is a more obvious place for gravel to be found.
I shall take care in future when looking for a cheap supply of gravel.

Ted

Hi Im not a resident of Brent Pelham but live about 10 miles away. Geologically there are deposits of alluvial / glacial gravels in this area, so I bet there could well have been a gravel pit at Brent Pelham. Do the records state that the pit was local, as it could have been some distance away from the village itself and are you sure that your relative was residing in BP at time of death...sounds obvious but believe me I have been involved in research for 30 years and so some aspects may not be obvious to those starting on a first time genealogical trace. All sounds very interesting surely Parish records and local records would list this as for a small rural community such issues would be really heartfelt. Anyway all the best and I hope you find answers to your quest.
Kind regards Julian

Hi Julian and Ted

Thank you both for your very interesting replies. My research has progressed a little since my last post…I have now established that there are no surviving records of the inquest but there is a newspaper report archived at HALS which I haven’t got yet but it tells how the ground was unstable due to heavy rain the day before causing land to give way.

It definitely says on Thomas’s death certificate that the death occurred in Brent Pelham. I’ve also been told that there could have been several small privately owned gravel pits in the area of which there would be no visible signs these days since after excavations were finished they would have been filled in and the land sold and most probably built on. There are old maps at HALS and, so the help of the newspaper report, it might be possible for me to locate which pit it was.

Interestingly, the death wasn't registered for a full five months after the accident, although I haven't been able to find out why.

Regards

Lyndsey