Read Online No Stone Unturned by Helen Watts - Free Book Online Page B

something there. A shape, blocking out the light which otherwise filtered through the leaves. A deer perhaps? Then a sudden movement, and Kelly let out a little cry as she saw, peering back at her through the greenery, two blue eyes.
    â€˜Hello, Kelly.’
    â€˜Oh my God! It’s you! I nearly died. What the hell are you doing in there?’
    Ben stepped out from the trees, looking more than a little dishevelled and covered in dirt.
    â€˜I’ve been looking for rabbits. They love it down there. It’s so sheltered and safe and the soil is much looser than up on the top, so it’s a great place to dig a burrow. There’s hundreds of the little devils. Hey, look who it is.’
    Tyson had forgotten all about his badger trail. He’d raced over and was now happily licking Ben’s hand.
    â€˜Why is there such a big hole in the ground anyway?’ asked Kelly. ‘I’ve been trying to work it out—why it’s fenced off and everything.’
    â€˜It’s one of the stone pits. Part of the quarry. There are four pits altogether but this one’s the biggest. It seems to have become rather overgrown but some of the sides are still really steep and the loose soil over the top makes them pretty slippery. I suppose it’s been fenced off to keep people out but it’s a paradise for animals. Not just rabbits but badgers, foxes, even deer.’
    â€˜Ahh, a quarry. That’s why the farm’s called Stone Pit Farm.’
    â€˜Yup. No flies on you, eh?’ Ben winked.
    â€˜Shut up!’ giggled Kelly. ‘I’ve never been up this far before. I didn’t even know Wilmcote had a quarry.
    â€˜Oh yes,’ said Ben. ‘The quarry was really important to the village when…well, in the nineteenth century. You know those rows of stone cottages on the main road down to the village green? The terraces?
    Kelly nodded.
    â€˜Well, they’re quarry workers’ cottages, and the main farm house is—I mean,
was
where the quarry owner lived.’
    â€˜Cor,’ exclaimed Kelly. ‘That’s why it’s quite grand for a farm house. It’s great finding out about places, don’t you think? You know, discovering why they’re like they are now. What stone did they quarry here, then?’
    â€˜Limestone. Look, you can see chunks of it along the path.’ Ben took Kelly further up the footpath, where some kind-hearted walker had used flat pieces of limestone to make stepping stones through a muddy patch.
    â€˜Cool,’ said Kelly. ‘Do you know what they used the stone for?’
    â€˜Well, those quarry workers’ cottages in the village are built from stone from these pits. One of the pubs was too. That’s why it’s called the Mason’s Arms, of course. But the stone’s been used for churches, bridges, stately homes all over the place around here. Ragley Hall for one.’
    â€˜Wow!’ said Kelly. ‘You can see that place from up on the hill behind the Traveller site. It’s huge. That’s quite impressive.’
    Ben nodded, smiling. ‘That’s not the most impressive thing about the quarry, either. Did you know that…?’
    Kelly was already walking on around the perimeter of the quarry. ‘But how did they get all the limestone out?’ she shouted back to him. ‘There aren’t any roads up here.’
    â€˜By tram,’ explained Ben, catching up with her. ‘They loaded the stone onto trucks at the pit side, then it was pulled by horses along the tramway to the canal where they put it onto barges.’ He paused, before mumbling, ‘Oh, and then later they extended the tramlines to reach the railway.’
    â€˜Yes, of course. I guess the railway was really important to the quarry,’ Kelly mused, putting a tired but happy Tyson back on his lead.
    â€˜Would you like me to walk back with you?’ asked Ben. ‘I can tell you some more along