Midford Castle
Soon after 1810 Kingham Field , which was part of the estate , was operating as a stone quarry similar to the nearby Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines . William Smith , who became known as "Father of English Geology" , proposed conveying the stone by a railway down to Tucking Mill where it would be sawn by machinery , and then loaded on to canal barges and transported via the Somerset Coal Canal and the Kennet and Avon Canal to Bath and London . In April 1814 , Smith mortgaged the remainder of his estate to Charles Conolly who then controlled the railway and probably extended it to his Vinegar Down Quarry . 
<triplet> William Smith <subj> Geology <obj> field of work