Quarrying around Frome didn’t become fully commercialised until the late 1800s. There were small quarries like Vallis Vale, Vobster and Bilbao, Mells, Whatley, Moon’s Hill, Waterlip, Asham, Westdown, Halecombe and Fairy Cave quarries – many of which changed names or were absorbed into the Roads Reconstruction company. Torr Works quarry built up to become, in 1973, the largest single aggregate producer in Europe. Frome, for well over a hundred years, has been surrounded by the quarrying industry and supplied much of its workforce.