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The 1901 figures for Denton show that the number working in the building industry (as bricklayers, stone masons, carpenters and general labourers) is second only to the number of agricultural workers. Most of their work would have been in Denton itself or within a small distance away as transport would still have been non-mechanised - even by the 1930's there were less than 10 vehicles in Denton.
Not only did labour therefore need to be local but materials also became more costly if they had to be bought by carrier or rail.
So Denton needed to produce basic materials from the immediate locality. The main stone pit was situated a short way out of the village to the East on the road to Yardley Hastings where Stonepit House still remains. This pit produced the typical light coloured limestone that so many Denton houses are built from. It was used by both the villagers and the Compton Estate. After it ceased to be used as stone pit it became the rubbish dump for village waste and it is told there were unusual elderberry bushes growing there which bore white berries. Another stoneyard was just by the entrance to the cemetery in Bedford Road and a monumental mason yard was on the corner of Northampton Road and The Lane
The darker coloured sandstone or iron stone used as contrast banding on many properties came from the extreme North West of the parish on the boundary with Brafield parish was produced from Near Brooke field - (see field names map from Agriculture and Farms section)
Having got access to stone, materials were needed for cement and in past times lime cement was used. The lime came from the area known as The Slipes - this is the area where the brook runs into the culvert under the A428 by-pass on the footpath which heads towards Denton Lodge Farm. The lime was burnt in kilns to become quickime then 'slaked' in water. Evidence of some workings can still be seen.
The other requirement for cement is sand and, despite the whole parish being primarily boulder clay, there were still small areas of sand laid down. One area was behind Church Farm and another in the field called Fox Holes to the East of Manor Farm on the border with the adjoining Castle Ashby parish and sand was also taken from Old Barn Field to the East of the road to Horton almost opposite to Chase View Farm.
Roof tiles and bricks would have come from nearby Castle Ashby brickworks and later when the railway arrived in 1872 ( See Roads and transport) it opened the way for Welsh mined slate to be transported to Piddington Station on the Horton road a few hundred yards beyond the parish boundary.
Thus the builders of Denton had, on their doorstep, all basic building needs including a dependable supply of water from the many wells in the village at the time.
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