Muckaway:
altitude:
There was Coln Gravel Claydon Pike, on the Lechlade to Fairford road, then there was Poole ( Lechlade ) on the Lechlade to Burford road. This was owned by Ameys, but the lorries ( BMC’s and Albion’s ) that ran out of there were all dark gray, with a plate on the sides of the body, in the Amey yellow with Poole (Lechlade ) painted on it.
Ah, now I know the difference! 
Coln must be nearly exhausted but they keep finding somewhere to dig! Not old enough to remember Pooles but I’m sure I remember seeing the plant or bits of it near the old weighbridge when I was out riding with Dad in the 80s…
Not been out that way for a good 10 years Nathen, but as you came out of Lechlade towards Burford, come over the railway bridge down to the roundabout, and as you came off it towards Burford there was what was left of the old weighbridge on your left, but that was all finised when I ran out of Poole’s in the 60s, the bridge then was a little bit further up the road on the right hand side.
Almost opposite one of my favourite laybys! Not to be confused with “Gobbys” that’s a little further up at Little faringdon/Southrop turns (I had the displeasure of stopping there last week as my mate wanted a cuppa. I refused an offer of him buying me a tea on the grounds I didn’t want to hear how good Gobby was when he drove for a certain firm with red cabbed muckshifting wagons 
) The new weighbridge area’s now part of the trout farm car park. The old bridge is still there, nothings changed. I’ve got a railway book that shows the station abandoned in '68, but you can see a knavy working in the fieldto the left of it.
Muckaway:
Almost opposite one of my favourite laybys! Not to be confused with “Gobbys” that’s a little further up at Little faringdon/Southrop turns (I had the displeasure of stopping there last week as my mate wanted a cuppa. I refused an offer of him buying me a tea on the grounds I didn’t want to hear how good Gobby was when he drove for a certain firm with red cabbed muckshifting wagons ) The new weighbridge area’s now part of the trout farm car park. The old bridge is still there, nothings changed. I’ve got a railway book that shows the station abandoned in '68, but you can see a knavy working in the fieldto the left of it.
Yeah I know the layby’s you on about, is there still a tea van in the one at the end of the road by the Burford roundabout? years ago a Scotch bloke had one there, a bit grubby, but he was a good old boy, the last time I was there a woman was there with one, nice clean place.
Yes for those who want Kebab for breakfast! Had a run with the vendor there about 6 years ago, my truck was new then and I remember reading the manual ( 
) one breaktime and said vendor told me he rented the layby and if I wasn’t buying I had to go and park somewhere else! I proceeded to call him a bulls**t merchant followed by a word rhyming with duck…
Muckaway:
Yes for those who want Kebab for breakfast! Had a run with the vendor there about 6 years ago, my truck was new then and I remember reading the manual ( ) one breaktime and said vendor told me he rented the layby and if I wasn’t buying I had to go and park somewhere else! I proceeded to call him a bulls**t merchant followed by a word rhyming with duck…
He can stick his Kebabs where the sun don’t shine don’t want any of that rubbish.
The brown stuff hit the cooling system at Hansons’ siding at Kidlington (the old ARC siding next to the silo) yesterday; a newbie from Cleavers had a go at tipping an artic on the only wonky piece of ground…it fell over 
Muckaway:
The brown stuff hit the cooling system at Hansons’ siding at Kidlington (the old ARC siding next to the silo) yesterday; a newbie from Cleavers had a go at tipping an artic on the only wonky piece of ground…it fell over
Hmmm don’t do them a lot of good doing that, must be a job going at Cleavers then 
may give um a ring in the morning. 
Some old hands have mentioned to me about the Cothill Sandpit; I don’t remember it but like many remote soft sand quarries, there was always a jar where you donated to the tea fund and got to shovel sand into your car boot from where overloaded lorries had tipped some off…
Amey’s proud history began in 1921 when William Amey set up a quarrying company in Oxfordshire. During the Second World War they helped with the construction of RAF bases and their involvement with the highways market began in 1959 with our supply of gravel for the M1, between London and Birmingham.
In 1972 Ron Amey agreed to a takeover by Hanson, with the company being renamed to Amey Roadstone Construction.
yanto36:
Amey’s proud history began in 1921 when William Amey set up a quarrying company in Oxfordshire. During the Second World War they helped with the construction of RAF bases and their involvement with the highways market began in 1959 with our supply of gravel for the M1, between London and Birmingham.
In 1972 Ron Amey agreed to a takeover by Hanson, with the company being renamed to Amey Roadstone Construction.
Hello “Yanto 36”,
Interesting history of AMEY,my belief is (and i stand to be corrected) that the AMEY group went public.after a while it was purchased by Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa.eventually sold to Amalgamated Roadststone whose parent was HANSON ,they amalgamated the two companies into AMEY Roadstone ,later renamed Hanson Group and thus eliminated any connection with the Amey brand.
Muckaway:
Some old hands have mentioned to me about the Cothill Sandpit; I don’t remember it but like many remote soft sand quarries, there was always a jar where you donated to the tea fund and got to shovel sand into your car boot from where overloaded lorries had tipped some off…
Hi Muckaway,
Memories of Cothill, yes, an old soft sandpit near Dry Sandford, little used in my time at W C Amey & Son,but it was without any mechanical equipment being almost run out, it meant screening and shoveling 5 cu yards into the tipper for delivery (it wasnt a busy pit ).I used to dread the morning allocation of work in case you got Cothill ,— happy days ■■? :TOSHBOY
toshboy:
Muckaway:
Some old hands have mentioned to me about the Cothill Sandpit; I don’t remember it but like many remote soft sand quarries, there was always a jar where you donated to the tea fund and got to shovel sand into your car boot from where overloaded lorries had tipped some off…
Hi Muckaway,
Memories of Cothill, yes, an old soft sandpit near Dry Sandford, little used in my time at W C Amey & Son,but it was without any mechanical equipment being almost run out, it meant screening and shoveling 5 cu yards into the tipper for delivery (it wasnt a busy pit ).I used to dread the morning allocation of work in case you got Cothill ,— happy days ■■? :TOSHBOY
Hi toshboy
Who were W.C.Amey & Son, and where did they come from.
cheers
John.
altitude:
toshboy:
Muckaway:
Some old hands have mentioned to me about the Cothill Sandpit; I don’t remember it but like many remote soft sand quarries, there was always a jar where you donated to the tea fund and got to shovel sand into your car boot from where overloaded lorries had tipped some off…
Hi Muckaway,
Memories of Cothill, yes, an old soft sandpit near Dry Sandford, little used in my time at W C Amey & Son,but it was without any mechanical equipment being almost run out, it meant screening and shoveling 5 cu yards into the tipper for delivery (it wasnt a busy pit ).I used to dread the morning allocation of work in case you got Cothill ,— happy days ■■? :TOSHBOY
Hi toshboy
Who were W.C.Amey & Son, and where did they come from.
Hi Altitude, W C Amey was the name of the original Company ,William C Amey the founder.this Company operated all the A & B licenced vehicles ,long distance and hire tippers etc,eventually lost the A 's when nationalization of road transport ( BRS) came into being,the WC name just faded away,on re -entering road transport on De nationalization they called the new Company Ameys Transport (Oxford) Ltd
toshboy:
yanto36:
Amey’s proud history began in 1921 when William Amey set up a quarrying company in Oxfordshire. During the Second World War they helped with the construction of RAF bases and their involvement with the highways market began in 1959 with our supply of gravel for the M1, between London and Birmingham.
In 1972 Ron Amey agreed to a takeover by Hanson, with the company being renamed to Amey Roadstone Construction.
Hello “Yanto 36”,
Interesting history of AMEY,my belief is (and i stand to be corrected) that the AMEY group went public.after a while it was purchased by Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa.eventually sold to Amalgamated Roadststone whose parent was HANSON ,they amalgamated the two companies into AMEY Roadstone ,later renamed Hanson Group and thus eliminated any connection with the Amey brand.
Hi Toshboy,
Yes you are exactly right about what you said!. I pulled the information off our website as i work for Amey on the railway, they do little or nothing with construction now, although they do have road maintenance,railway and airports as we were taken over by ferrovial a spanish company. They used to have AFS Amey Fleet Services and hired out Blaw Knox’s and diggers but that is coming to an end.
The old boys in Sutton Courtenay head office reckon that William Amey opened up his first gravel pit onan old market garden they used to own as the gravel was worth more and was close to the new M1 being built?
yanto36:
toshboy:
yanto36:
Amey’s proud history began in 1921 when William Amey set up a quarrying company in Oxfordshire. During the Second World War they helped with the construction of RAF bases and their involvement with the highways market began in 1959 with our supply of gravel for the M1, between London and Birmingham.
In 1972 Ron Amey agreed to a takeover by Hanson, with the company being renamed to Amey Roadstone Construction.
Hello “Yanto 36”,
Interesting history of AMEY,my belief is (and i stand to be corrected) that the AMEY group went public.after a while it was purchased by Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa.eventually sold to Amalgamated Roadststone whose parent was HANSON ,they amalgamated the two companies into AMEY Roadstone ,later renamed Hanson Group and thus eliminated any connection with the Amey brand.
Hi Toshboy,
Yes you are exactly right about what you said!. I pulled the information off our website as i work for Amey on the railway, they do little or nothing with construction now, although they do have road maintenance,railway and airports as we were taken over by ferrovial a spanish company. They used to have AFS Amey Fleet Services and hired out Blaw Knox’s and diggers but that is coming to an end.
The old boys in Sutton Courtenay head office reckon that William Amey opened up his first gravel pit onan old market garden they used to own as the gravel was worth more and was close to the new M1 being built?
Hi yanto 36 , the first GRAVEL pit -not an easy one ,seeing he started in 1921 ,theres a few old pits around oxfordshire credited to him ,the Dorchester .oxon was a main one in 1948 i do know .and long before the M1 was around , toshboy
toshboy:
altitude:
toshboy:
Muckaway:
Some old hands have mentioned to me about the Cothill Sandpit; I don’t remember it but like many remote soft sand quarries, there was always a jar where you donated to the tea fund and got to shovel sand into your car boot from where overloaded lorries had tipped some off…
Hi Muckaway,
Memories of Cothill, yes, an old soft sandpit near Dry Sandford, little used in my time at W C Amey & Son,but it was without any mechanical equipment being almost run out, it meant screening and shoveling 5 cu yards into the tipper for delivery (it wasnt a busy pit ).I used to dread the morning allocation of work in case you got Cothill ,— happy days ■■? :TOSHBOY
Hi toshboy
Who were W.C.Amey & Son, and where did they come from.
Hi Altitude, W C Amey was the name of the original Company ,William C Amey the founder.this Company operated all the A & B licenced vehicles ,long distance and hire tippers etc,eventually lost the A 's when nationalization of road transport ( BRS) came into being,the WC name just faded away,on re -entering road transport on De nationalization they called the new Company Ameys Transport (Oxford) Ltd
Thanks for that toshboy. When I worked there Ron Amey was the man then.
Cheers
Altitude
Muckaway:
Where was Ameys first pit? I wonder if it was the lake beside the A34 at Wolvercote? I know most of the gravel for the A40 Cassington - Oxford was dug in the area around 1930-31 as one of my railway books shows the railway bridge being built over the mainline, and a narrow gauge railway ran from the lake to Cassington to move ballast and muck.
Ron Amey and John Smith setup Smiths Concrete in the late 1950s-the original plant, Cassington is still running and generally the busiest of the lot. A lot of the original plant is still there, and today SC is 51% Smiths owned, 49% Hanson-Heidelburg In the Oxford area, Ameys went on to buy J Browns, Dixs’ and Kingston Minerals. (Who’d bought out Clifford Haines at Hardwick Pit…
Does anyone remember “Brasenose Pit”? It was a hogging pit at Hardwick, opposite Smiths Concretes’ Manor Farm Quarry, and the land owned by Brasenose College.
Smiths’ Concrete Cassington
Taken from the aggregate silo
Taken at Hanson Rail Siding, Kidlington
Hi Muckaway the first pit,seeing WC Amey started in 1921 ,who knows ,my guess is an area on the A420 at Besselsliegh ,betwwen the Greyhound pub and Hartwells 4x4 centre behind the woods.used to go looking for primroses there years ago with my wife of course,very rough and typical of an old SAND pit , it fits, WC lived nearby at wooton and Ron Amey lived up the road .his house was called Rowliegh ,i remember old guys used to talk of ROWLIEGH pit --i wonder possibly never know toshboy
Hi toshboy
You could well be right there with that land at Besseliegh, Ameys had workshops at Coln Gravel Claydon Pike Lechlade, they did most things but there were times you had to go to the main workshops at Boars Hill, I always went out on road test with the fitter that had worked on my lorry, ( sorry I can see the man but the name won’t come at the moment ) we always passed that bit of land, and he would always say " that’s where it all started. "
cheers
John.
We deliver to Great Park Farm (almost opposite where you said at Besselsleigh), and I’ve heard from somewhere that land near there was used during the war for storing stuff part buried in the ground? Not sure whether it was documents or munitions I’ll ask some people at work on Monday. Tying in with Bessels and Cothill, the seam of sand in question runs almost unbroken from Sandhills (Headington) right through to Faringdon, and only changes near the Grundon Pit at Wicklesham, where we pick up “binding grit sand”, and more commonly, the best topsoil around; It doesn’t really stick in the bodies even when loaded in the pouring rain…
Obviously, the sand from the Headington area was used with brick making; I did a muck job a few years back (pre-weighloaders) from Quarry Road and the clay-sand was so light we could fill 14m3 bodies on 6 wheelers without overloading them-and it came out without shovelling!
ARC also dug ballast in the 70s and early 80s from Foxley Farm, Eynsham (near the old railway line) for use during local road improvements; I’ve heard bombs were discovered there as the site was part of RAF No 10 Air Ammunition Park during WW2. When the large house there was built about 7 or 8 years ago, our contracts division excavated ballast which we hauled to Tuckwells pit at Radley; We had MOD Bomb Disposal on that job a couple of times too