Our History

Leading Suppliers of Aggregates and Building Materials

Over 60 years ago, our grandfather, Harold Wilkes, bought our current facility, Henbury Quarry. The 350-acre site was originally bought for the timber, but it didn’t take them long to discover the more valuable material that lay underneath the timber resources.

In 1958, the company switched from timber production to quarrying the premium sand and gravel that built the area. Over the years, we have become famous for our Ginger Sand (Corfe4) and Hoggin, not just locally but across the nation.

The company invested in the small amounts of equipment required to run a quarry, including a small Parker Screener to screen the sand and gravel and ensure it was all of the same quality.

Growing and Expanding

In 1964, the business became a Limited Company, spurring a large expansion of the business, all while using a Ford Zodiac as its site office.

Having worked with the company from the outset, Michael, son of Harold Wilkes, brought in his son, Paul Wilkes, in 1985.

In 2010, we appointed Dave Fletcher as Commercial Manager to expand our range. We had done well with the sand and gravel we were quarrying from our land, but we wanted to offer a more comprehensive service.

We also wanted to explore the idea of recycled and recovered products, adding a more sustainable and environmentally friendly department to the business.

Adding Decorative Aggregates To The Repertoire

The sand was, and still is, popular with bricklayers and brick manufacturing. This was a great source of income at the time, but the recession quickly showed our weakness in relying on it. It was at this point that we diversified even further, offering decorative aggregates to our collection.

Among all this, we also developed with the times, building an online presence with a website and online shop that allowed people to order aggregates from their sofa straight to their door.

Our 50th birthday was a significant one as we invested in new vehicles and equipment to keep growing production and maintain efficiency within our processes.

Today

Today, we, Paul and David, Harold Wilkes's grandsons, run the company and are overseen by Michael Wilkes. We are still investing in the recycling and recovery of materials, as well as developing our equipment fleet - expanding grab and tipper truck fleets to offer further deliveries and collections.

We are still dedicated to providing quality Corfe sand and gravel, along with all the other products that we have added to our range.