Blasting, Dalbeattie Quarry

Granite is quite difficult to quarry and has to be blasted out.  The large boulders are then worked by hand.  This photograph shows the quarry face collapsing after being blasted.   In Victorian times the granite from quarries such as Dalbeattie was of such high quality that it was in demand for both buildings and monuments.  It was used to build the Embankment of the River Thames in central London.  Galloway granite was also used for kerbstones and setts or cobble stones throughout Britain.  These granite setts were exported widely - as far afield as Argentina and Russia.