Dunaskin
The hills around the Doon Valley in East Ayrshire held a
wealth of coal, ironstone and limestone. The Dalmellington Iron
Company employed these to produce pig iron at its works at
Dunaskin. Its furnaces operated 24 hour a day from 1848 until 1921
and employed 1400 people. Forced to shut the furnaces due to a
slump in demand, the Company survived for a few years on its coal
business alone, before, in 1931, taking advantage of the demand for
bricks and redeveloping the blast engine house as a modern
brickworks.
They used new processes to powder the clay and press it into 'green' bricks. The bricks were then fired in kilns then transported by rail to their destination. They continued to produce bricks until 1976 when they were again forced to close due to a recession.
