Top Bank, Craignair Quarries, Dalbeattie

This photograph shows a steam crane that runs the length of the quarry face on a railway track.  Also pictured are several quarry workers in small wooden shelters, sorting or breaking stone rubble.   The granite quarry at Craignair, near Dalbeattie, was opened by the Trustees of Liverpool Dock in the 1820s in order to build their harbour.   Granite was quarried at Dalbeattie and Creetown. In Victorian times the granite from these quarries was of such high quality that it was in demand both for buildings and monuments. 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.