Pooil Vaaish Quarry History Statement
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Pooil Vaaish has been quarried for its unique black finestoge (or Manx Marble) since at least the mid-fourteenth century. There are examples of the stone in both Rushen Abbey and Castle Rushen dating from this period.
Pooil Vaaish stone was used in the original building of St Paul's Cathedral for the steps and probably for the black tiles in the black and white floor of the main cathedral; the 311 circular steps in The Monument to the Great Fire of London and at least 3 other of Christopher Wren's churches for which we have supplied replacement stone for restoration work.
There is a record of stone from Pooil Vaaish being sent in 1704 "for the use of a new church in Leverpool" where it was used for the flagging of St Peter's Church. For this and other exports it is likely that the stone was exported by sea at high tide from a small quay actually at Pooil Vaaish.
There is a time-sheet recording the work done by quarrymen preserved in the Manx Museum Library. Written on the letter heading of a firm of stone-masons in Castletown, it seems to be from the 1870 's or 80 's.
In the nineteenth century it was used for steps, tombstones - of which there are many examples in Malew Parish Church, and mantelpieces. When the boarding houses were being built in Douglas, Poyllvaash "marble" was in much demand for fire surrounds and there are many in existence today all over the island. In the Groves museum in Ramsey there are several fine examples.
The current company, Pooil Vaaish Limited, formerly Manx Marble \& Granite Company Ltd bought the land in August 1963 and it has been quarried by the company since that time. The most recent mining lease agreement between the company and the Isle of Man Government's Department of Industry is dated 27th July 1995 and is for the same annual extraction amount as the company would like to continue extracting -3,500 tonnes per annum and from the same area of land. During the period of the lease the extraction amounts have varied on an annual basis with building stone, dimensional stone and the waste stone exported for crushing but have not exceeded this amount.
The company wishes to carry on the existing operations (ie the stripping and storage of overburden on site; extraction of building and dimensional stone and the carrying out, on an occasional basis, campaign crushing and screening of limestone which is not suitable for building or dimensional stone. We have clearly provided evidence that the nature and level of this activity has a substantial historic basis far in excess of the specified 10 years and thus an established use.
Pooil Vaaish is one of the only Manx quarries left producing building stone and the only quarry on the island producing dimensional stone for local and export use. We have substantial current orders for building stone projects including the Clagh Vane Estate in Ballasalla as well as several private projects and are exporting stone blocks for processing into polished slabs in Italy for sale in the UK, Europe and America which is exciting considerable interest.
