 The quarry owner, Henry William Baker, came from Worcester and married Mary Ann Minchin the daughter of William Minchin of East End Farm.Henry Baker lived in East End Farmhouse and is described in directories and census returns as a farmer, therefore his ironstone quarries were presumably a sideline.It is believed that quarrying began in the 1890s ("about 1895" according to Paul Ingham) and "virtually certain" that the first quarry was Top Pit.