The quarry
The Antonka quarry was probably established during or after World War II with a significant assistance of man who would mine a stone here. There are many stories about the origin of the quarry, most of them rather far-fetched. According to available information, the workers ran across a spring during the mining. Despite efforts to stop the leak, the spring flooded the quarry eventually. It is a good example of how nature can resist an interference of man effectively. There are also many tall stories about underwater life at the bottom of the quarry, rumours about a quarry monster or old sunk logging machines. The truth is, there is no life at the bottom of the quarry except for small frogs and sedge flies. The water is acid, the bottom flat and the terrain tabular.
The quarry is used as a natural swimming pool in summer. The visibility under the water is usually around four meters throughout the year but it gets worse in summer. In spite of that, it is still one of the clearest natural swimming pools in Southern Bohemia. Because of a considerable depth, an average temperature is not very high as the water heats up very slowly. June average is around 15°C, July 17°C, August 21°C. In September, a temperature drops to 14°C. The biggest advantage of the quarry is surely not the temperature but the pure clean water. Just come and see..
The quarry near Antonka
A new historical info about the quarry, so far unknown
Quarries such as the one near Antonka probably come from the period of WWII or from the fifties of 20th century. The head of the quarry was now retired Mr Kolář from Pelhřimov. In the quarry there was a gang doing one shift. They even had their personal chef. In quarry premises they grew vegetables and kept chickens so lunches were usually cooked from supplies of their own produce. Staff was not changing and there was a bunch of good guys back then. The quarry was equipped with a cable excavator, a grinding mill and a grinder. The stone produce was mainly delivered to a tarmacadam plant in Leskovice which still works today. The stone was mixed with asphalt here and then used for road-buildings. They do not use such mixture nowadays anymore. It is rather questionable that the quarry was abandoned because it was flooded. It is quite common in quarries to draw water continuously. Various labour-saving steps of a former national corporation called Silnice led to a closing of non-productive aged plants, even though the quality of a deposit was high. Quarries in Horní Radouň, Antonka and Ondřejov were closing down one by one. Because of an expansion in transport, there was no need of many minor plants anymore and only the largest deposits in Dačice, Těchobuz, Deštná and Horní Němčice were maintained till 2002. After recultivations, the quarries became a part of countryside again as the underground water flooded them. Another quarry of such kind is the one in Horní Cerekev.
by Vladimír Zadák
