Monument record 0420808003 - Gravel Pits, Stowe Park

English Heritage's survey of Stowe undertaken in 2001 notes a large quarry pit 100m long x 70m wide x 2-3m deep, which probably supplied the Stowe estate with sand and gravel. There is concrete rubble and a track made up of modern rubble at the southern end. The pit is noted on the 1843 estate map and as disused on the 1880 OS map. (1)

A large post-medieval gravel pit is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located in a field about 300 metres NW of Stowe Castle and centred at SP 68663 37351, the irregularly shaped pit is about 188 x 82 metres at is widest and covers about 6,228 square metres in area cutting through a block of medieval ridge and furrow cultivation earthworks. Shown on the 1881 1st Edition OS map as an ’old’ gravel pit, it is also depicted on the 1814 Ordnance Surveyor’s Drawing, suggesting it is 18th century in origin or earlier (3-6).