Owen Pugh Aggregates Ltd operates Marsden Quarry which is situated on the coast between Whitburn and South Shields.

Marsden Quarry was established over a hundred years ago to exploit the northern-most tip of a seam of magnesian dolomitic limestone which stretches away to the south west across the country.

Over the years, limestone from Marsden has been quarried for building stone, for use in kilns to produce unslaked lime, for aggregates, for agricultural lime and for grinding into a fine powder used as a filler in many products and even as a fire suppressant in coal mines.

Currently, the Quarry produces a range of construction aggregates including Type 1 Sub-base, pipe-beddings and clean stone. In addition, the Quarry produces both calcium lime and magnesium lime for agricultural purposes, products which are sold in the UK as well as exported from the Port of Sunderland for sale in Northern Europe.

In 2005, planning permission was obtained for the Quarry Restoration plan which involves refilling around a third of the eventual total void-space with inert material, carefully profiled and finished off to re-create the magnesian limestone grassland present before the Quarry began. Even today, the surroundings of the Quarry, untouched by agriculture, provide a rich habitat for rare species such as the Bee Orchid, the Fly and Pyramid Orchid as well as foxes, voles, butterflies and moths.

Surplus inert material from construction projects across the region is used to create the required profile while any suitable material such as hardcore is extracted and recycled for sale as recycled aggregate.