Ridge Quarry is an average sized bath stone quarry near Corsham in Wiltshire first opened in 1878 by the Corsham Quarrying Company. The Quarry is situated along a geological fault line which results in a 20 foot drop in the limestone seams, with the Quarry Workings split onto two levels to follow the stone. Quarrying took place at Ridge until 1914 when with the outbreak of the Great War the quarry was requisitioned by the War Department for TNT and Cordite storage. During the Course of the war waste stone was cleared into abandoned workings on the lower level. The floors were leveled, the Roof Strengthened and Storage racks, electric lighting and tramways ere installed within the cleared gallery's.

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Following the end of the war the Quarry was declared surplus to requirements and vacated in 1922, but it wasn't long before the military once again turned its attentions on Ridge Quarry. During the early 1930's a number of sites were considered for underground munitions storage. Ridge Was chosen for further investigation because it offered a potential 12 Acres of storage space much of which had already been cleared and converted during the Great War.

A further study of Ridge and Tunnel Quarry's during 1934 demonstrated the suability of the Corsham quarry's for storing huge amounts of explosives and shortly after Ridge, Tunnel along with Monkton Farley and Easterly quarrys were purchased for conversion these four quarry's would become the sub deports of Central Ammunition Depot Corsham.

Conversion work began in 1936 despite the clearance work done during the Great War there were 96,000 tons of stone debris to be cleared this was moved into the long abandoned workings of "Old Ridge Quarry" on the western limits of the quarry once the stone was cleared a wall was erected to block access to the old workings. The tram ways laid during the Great War was further extended to serve all the storage bays but the existing raised storage areas were cleared.

All the tramways were linked to a marshalling area at the foot of the main slope shaft. The power for hauling ammunition up and down the quarry's 1/3 gradient slope shaft, was provided by a steam powered haulage engine capable of lifting 6 tons. Backed up by an electric powered winder. Between the quarry's two levels two new sloped haulage ways were constructed and fitted with steam winches powered by compressed air for generators on the surface.

The Final Stage of conversion work was to create standard storage bays and haulage ways by making corseting the supporting pillars in concrete tom make them more rectangular. Concreting work began early in 1938 on fifteen pillars and a length of perimeter wall in the South East corner of the quarry, but this work was cancelled a few months later as the cost of the work and the materials used escalated. No further work was ever completed or planned at Ridge Quarry and the pillars can still be seen in varying degrees of completion today.

From 1936 onwards Ridge was allocated to the Royal Air Force, for the storage of bombs and bulk explosives. Storage and loading of bombs was carried out by a staff of thirty Civilian workers employed by the Royal Army Ordinance Corps but under the direct command of the RAF. The Quarry remained under the control of the RAF thought the Second World War and in the decommissioning in the years following the war, The last explosives left ridge quarry in 1949 and it remained on care and maintenance until 1955 when the RAF finally abandoned Ridge Quarry.

Following the departure of the RAF, The ROAC presence remained at Ridge until 1964 but no further explosives were stored at the site. after this site reverted to care and maintenance under the Ministry of Works and Buildings until it was finally sol back to the original land owners the Nesto Estate in 1975. The Surface buildings have since been demolished except for the transit shed at the head of secondary slope shaft which today is used for agricultural storage. The remains of the demolished buildings were dumped into the lift and main slope shaft totally blocking both.

Ridge Quarry is a fascinating place to visit today after descending from the surface you immediately enter an unconverted part of the quarry, most of the metal structural reinforcement added during it's storage days was scrapped shortly after the military left the quarry so today this section has nearly reverted back to it's condition as stone quarry. The original quarry walls are occasionally decorated by drawings and scribbles left by the workers including some tributes to there colleagues killed during the conversion works of the 1930's. Moving on you begin to encounter the odd surviving sign labeling a long abandoned storage bay.