About us
Operating times
News
Liaison group
Biodiversity
Community support
Careers

Batts Combe quarry in Cheddar, Somerset, is a limestone quarry that produces and supplies aggregates for use in asphalt and ready-mixed concrete for use in construction and road maintenance.

Quarrying operations have taken place on site for over 100 years and today Batts Combe is one of the main suppliers of aggregates for Hinkley Point C Power station, currently under construction in Somerset.  It is also one of the few sites to process material for industrial use, including for use in animal feeds and as industrial fillers.

Over 35 people are employed at Batts Combe, plus many more in our supply chain of contractors and support staff.

We actively support local initiatives and programmes which benefit the community and environment and are proud to be one of the major contributors to the pump track at Sharpham Road playing fields. We also work in close partnership with a number of conservation bodies, including Somerset Wildlife Trust, and regularly host school and college visits.

About Batts Combe quarry

Quarrying operations in the Mendip Hills near Cheddar have taken place for over 100 years. The stone at Batts Combe is predominantly Burrington Oolite, which has long been recognised for its high purity (approaching 99% calcium carbonate). Today, the limestone aggregate from Batts Combe quarry is considered a nationally significant resource.

Timeline

Timeline

1890: Open lime kiln marks early quarrying operations at Batts Combe.

Mid-1920s: Local men Charles Bernard Butcher (an entrepreneur who had previously worked at a quarry at Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire) and Frederick Ford, formed the Batts Combe Quarry Co.

1935: Batts Combe Quarry Co was bought by Thomas Roberts.

1950s: The quarry was re-equipped to supply an increasing demand for road and concrete aggregate.

1959: Batts Combe was incorporated into Roads Reconstruction (1934) Ltd.

1967: The company became part of the Amey Roadstone Corporation, and major contract won to supply high purity limestone to British Steel in south Wales.

1974: The Frauss Maffei rotary lime kiln, one of the largest in Europe, was commissioned on the site, capable of producing 180,000 tonnes of lime per year.

1976: Lime kiln began full production.

1989: Amey Roadstone purchased.

2012: Lime kiln sold to Singleton Birch and subsequently shut down due to decline of the British steel industry.

Today: Heidelberg Materials UK continues to extract limestone at Batts Combe quarry for use in construction and road maintenance.

Contact us

For all enquiries, please email battscombequarry@
uk.heidelbergmaterials.com or telephone 01934 742733.

Blasting

To sign up to receive our free blasting notifications, please email us at: battscombequarry@uk.heidelbergmaterials.com and advise which method you would prefer to receive the notification; text (provide a mobile number) and/or email.

Suppliers

To request information about how to become a supplier, click here. 

Operating times

Most quarry operations such as primary crushing, screening or face work (including the loading of dumper trucks) are permitted to take place between 06.00 and 21.00 Monday to Friday, 06.00 and 17.00 on Saturdays, and 07.00 and 13.00 on Sundays. Essential maintenance can take place outside of these times. 

Aggregate HGVs are permitted to enter the quarry between 06.00 and 21.00 Monday to Friday with no departures allowed before 06.30. Saturday hours are between 06.00 and 17.00, and 07.00 and 13.00 hours on Sundays and bank Holidays. 

Due to the demands of the highway sector, including the need for emergency repairs, the on-site asphalt plant has permission to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Tip working is only permitted between 07.00 and 18.00 Monday to Friday and between 07.00 and 12.00 on Saturdays. 

The current operational working patterns at Batts Combe quarry is mainly Monday to Friday from 06:00 - 17:00, with HGVs occasionally returning to the quarry after 15:00. Future patterns may change – subject to customer requirements and in line with the permissions set out above.  

Blasting

Blasting usually takes place two to three times a month at Batts Combe quarry. We plan operations so that, where feasible, blasting is scheduled between 12:45 - 13:45. However, there may be occasions when it is necessary to blast outside of this time for operational or safety reasons.

The operating conditions allow blasting between 09:30 – 10:30, 12:45 – 13:45 and 16:00 – 18:00 Monday to Friday and between 09:30 – 10:30 and 12:00 – 13:00 on Saturdays.

To sign up to receive our free blasting notifications, please email us at: battscombequarry@uk.heidelbergmaterials.com and advise which method you would prefer to receive the notification; text (provide a mobile number) and/or email.

Please see our privacy policy for details on how we manage personal data.
 

Sign up to receive our free blasting notifications

News

Supporting dormice conservation in the Mendip Hills

Supporting dormice conservation in the Mendip Hills

Batts Combe quarry is working with a number of local organisations and landowners led by the Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT), on an ambitious project to prevent the decline of hazel dormice in the Mendip Hills.

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Connecting communities in The Mendip Hills

When the volunteers at The Strawberry Line Society issued a public appeal for support to carry out enhancements, our Batts Combe quarry in Cheddar was happy to help this much-loved traffic-free path which extends from the Mendips to the sea. 

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Higher Apprentice returns to former school to highlight career opportunities

Higher Apprentice Aaron Cocking returned to his former school, Kings of Wessex Academy, for its recent careers fair to highlight the range of career opportunities available at Heidelberg Materials UK.

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Batts Combe community project wins top biodiversity prize

A community-led biodiversity project based at our Batts Combe quarry has won the UK community stream of the Quarry Life Award, Heidelberg Materials’ nature-based competition.

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Meet the Creepy Crawler Hauler

 The bug hotel at our Batts Combe quarry has officially been named the Creepy Crawler Hauler, thanks to the creativity of a local school pupil. 

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Donation supports outdoor learning in Cheddar

Batts Combe quarry supported the renovation of the outdoor learning area at Cheddar First School through material donations and volunteer work.

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Community liaison

We are committed to open communication about our operations and hold regular community liaison meetings to discuss local issues, projects and future thinking. 

Liaison Committee Meeting Minutes - 12 March 2026 845.03 KB Liaison Committee Meeting Minutes - 11 December 2025 1.03 MB Liaison Committee Meeting Minutes - 26 June 2025 1.12 MB Liaison Committee Meeting Minutes - 6 February 2025 1.35 MB

If you represent a local group and would like to be considered for membership, please get in touch.

Email us

At our community liaison group meetings, we share the findings of our regular HGV speed monitoring on the access routes to Batts Combe quarry. 

Click here for more information

Biodiversity

The quarry is situated on the border of the Mendip Hills area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB). The excavation area covers around 60ha and is set in a total landholding of 180ha.

Within the quarry landholding are important, biodiverse habitats, including The Perch, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), designated due to its calcareous grassland, woodland and notable species including the lesser and greater horseshoe bat, dormice and Cheddar pink wildflowers.

The Cheddar Complex SSSI, part of the North Somerset & Mendip Bats Special Area of Conservation (SAC), is also within 500m of our landholding.

Working in close partnership with bodies such as Somerset Wildlife Trust, RSPB and Natural England, we have carried out a range of practical conservation activities across our landholding and surrounding areas over the last two decades. These include large-scale scrub clearance and cattle grazing, tree planting to create habitat corridors or dormice and bats and the use of locally sourced green hay instead of brought seed mixes to seed quarry restoration projects.

To find out more about Heidelberg Materials UK’s approach at Batts Combe quarry see: 

Site Biodiversity Action Plan - Batts Combe Quarry 1.41 MB

For details on Heidelberg Materials commitment to enhancing and protecting biodiversity click here

Community support

As a responsible operator, we want to play our part in supporting communities near our sites as well as protecting and enhancing the local environment.
We welcome school, college and other group visits to our site, host community open days and carry out a broad range of regular community support initiatives. 
In addition, local charities and community groups have benefitted from the donation of money, materials and time, through our employee volunteering days.
Our approach is to prioritise support for initiatives that:

  • Promote education, skills and wellbeing
  • Protect and/or enhance the environment
  • Support biodiversity and sustainability
  • Promote the community and heritage of the area

Financial and material donations are prioritised to those based within a three-mile radius of Batts Combe quarry.
 

Request a donation

Click here  to request a financial or materials donation or voluntary support. Please tell us about your group and/or project, what type of support you are seeking and how your project’s aims align with our priorities above.

Recent beneficiaries of our local support programme include:

  • The Frankie Howerd OBE Trust benefitted from a donation of 20 tonnes of aggregate for the car park at its Loxton community hub. 
  • A donation of 1,000 tonnes of mixed aggregate was donated to The Strawberry Line Society to carry out an extension to the recreational path used by walkers and cyclists. 
  • The Kings of Wessex Academy, Cheddar - Donation towards the cost of setting up an employability and learning hub to help students take their next step in education or employment.
  • A donation of asphalt to improve car parking facilities at the new community hall in Upper North Street, Cheddar
  • Donation of all aggregates and asphalt needed to create a new pump track at Sharpham Road playing fields in Cheddar.
Request a donation

Careers and apprenticeships

Working at Heidelberg Materials is about being part of One Team.

Visit our careers website

We operate more than 300 manufacturing sites in the UK and employ over 4,000 people, offering a variety of careers and development opportunities.

These include a wide range of roles from production workers, plant operatives, engineers, technicians and drivers to sales, IT, finance and HR managers.

Our graduate scheme for specialists in engineering, geology, marketing or a STEM related discipline offers a structured two-year programme based in a variety of locations across the UK.

We also provide various apprenticeships, giving you the opportunity to earn while you learn and secure valuable industry qualifications.

These include our three-year higher apprenticeship programme, which offers the first steps towards a number of careers in our sector from site supervisors to quantity surveying, and others for roles such as plant operators and mechanical engineers.

To find out more about the range of opportunities we offer, view current vacancies and apply, visit our careers website.

Visit our careers website