Park Village
Cample
Dalgarnoc
Other
There were 3 quarries started in 1772,1773 and 1774 but
by 1834 the 21ft deep limestone beds had ceased to be work as a quarry and a
mine dug with a main passage way 500 yards long and had numerous branches, the
first 200 yards had rails on which wagons containing one ton of limestone were
pushed to the mine head, where they were attached to a chain which was connected
to a ten horse power wheel. The same wheel was used to drain the mine. There
were 6 limekilns in total and had several novel features including a blast pipe
to hasten combustion, the air for which was blown by bellows attached to the
waterwheel.
According to the New Statistical Account (1834) water was brought 6 miles to the
works, one wheel worked the railway and the other drained the mine, blew the
kilns and drove the sawmill.
Sir James Kirkpatrick who first opened the quarries went bankrupt in 1780 and
the following year his trustees entered into an agreement with John Kellock Jr
of Thornhill for the management of the limeworks in the lands of Kellock and
Croalchapel.
A second limeworks was opened in 1787.
The limekilns had an entrance which was 8ft high and were 11ft deep in total the
inner fireplace was 5ft x 4ft and had a cast iron door, the kilns were lined
with brick and the tops measured 9ft in diameter (lime was dropped in the top of
the kilns for blasting).
The old wheel used for drainage and haulage during the lime quarry days, the
base can still be seen but the wheel has gone. There also still remains a bank
of three lime kilns (picture coming soon) also it is said that there is markings
across a field behind the quarry of the railway line which supplied coal and
transported lime from the quarry. At the height of production in 1800, the
quarry employed 400-600 men.
Below is a picture of the remains of the what is thought to be the sawmill
mentioned above, more pictures coming soon.
