Quarrying
Limestone is present throughout Ayrshire and in scattered
locations in Dumfries and Galloway. From early times it has been
burnt to provide building mortar. Since the 17th Century, farmers
have spread it on the land to increase its fertility. At Beith, in
Ayrshire, a hard limestone was discovered which could be polished
to produce an ornamental building stone.
Sedimentary rocks have been modified by contact with molten
intrusions. In some instances this has had useful results. Water of
Ayr stone, quarried and mined at Stair, is still sought after for
sharpening fine edged instruments. It was produced by the effects
of heat on deposits of shale. The great variety in rock textures
throughout the south-west, has given rise to many small local
quarries with a range of output, from paving stones to
millstones.
Among the most renowned of materials to be quarried in this part
of Scotland, is the micro-granite of Ailsa Craig - an islet off the
coast of Ayrshire. This is the surviving hard core of an ancient
volcano. Since the 19th Century it has been shipped from the Craig
to supply curling stone manufacturers in the small town of
Mauchline. Different parts of the volcanic core cooled at different
rates, producing crystals of different sizes. The result, is a
variation in impact and water resistance which is exploited in the
construction of the curling stone.
Granite
Granite, a hard volcanic rock, has been quarried at a number of
places in Galloway. The main quarries were at Creetown and
Dalbeattie.
Large-scale quarrying began in 1826 when The Liverpool Dock
Trustees opened the Craignair Quarry at Dalbeattie. By 1830 the
Trustees were also working the Kirkmabreck Quarry at Creetown and
thousands of tons of Galloway granite were being transported in
schooners to Liverpool for the city's new docks.
With the opening of the Dumfries and Castle Douglas Railway in
1859 there was a revival of quarrying at Dalbeattie. The town's
quarries specialised in dressed and polished granite and the firm
of D.H. and J. Newall developed some of the first granite polishing
machines. There was a strong demand for granite memorials and many
of the Victorian tombs in Glasgow's Necropolis or City of the Dead
were fashioned from Dalbeattie granite.
Sandstone
High quality Permian sandstone has been quarried at Dumfries,
Annan and Mauchline. The stone was used mainly for housing and the
main period of quarrying was during the building boom of the late
Victorian period. In 1900 the local quarries employed over 1,000
workers and produced 190,000 tons of stone each year.
South-west Scotland's distinctive red-brown sandstone was used for
the tenement flats and public buildings of Glasgow, Paisley,
Kilmarnock and Ayr. Local sandstone was also in demand in Europe
and America and New York's State Capitol Building, constructed in
the 1890s, used stone from the Corsehill Quarry, Annan.
Quarrying was a skilled job and the use of explosives was kept to
a minimum to avoid damaging the stone. Chisels were used to split
blocks to size on the quarry floor. Blocks were then raised to the
surface using steam or electric powered cranes.
