QUARRY. 



Itance, which is thirty feet in thickncfs. It is there iifed 

 and dug out for manure, and occafionally as a building 

 material, for the latter of which purpofes it is very durable. 

 The remains of the abbey of Hurley, and of the ancient 

 chapel, now the j)ari(h church, built wholly of chalk, in 

 the reign of William the Conqueror, are, it is remarked by 

 the writer of the correfted Agricultmal Survey of the 

 diftrift, IHll as fredi and found as if they had been the works 

 of the laft century. Chalk, when (nice indurated by the 

 air, has a remarkable property in reiilling the aftion of the 

 weather. 



Granite is a ftony fubftance, which is found to exifl in 

 fome of the fouthern parts of the country, as well as in 

 thofe of the north, but it abounds much more in the latter. 



In the welleru parts of Cornwall it is in great plenty in 

 the diftritts of Pcnwitli and Kirrier, prefenting itfelf in 

 large flabs on all the rocky hills or tors, as well as in the 

 walle moors and vallies ; and appearing in detached fpots, 

 even in the (helfy flaty trafts. It is of different colours and 

 textures, being adapted to a great variety of ufes and pur- 

 pofes, as thofe of building, and being wrought into columnar 

 inaffes, eight or ten feet in length, for fupporters to (beds, 

 out-houfes, &c. ; and as gate-pofts, and bridges over brooks, 

 rivulets, iS:c. ; as well as in the forming of rollers, malting, 

 faking, and pig troughs. It is alio an article of commerce 

 to different parts. It is fuppofed to be cxaftly of the 

 fame nature with the original granite ; and there are five 

 forts of it, which are diltniguifhed by their colours, the 

 white, the dulky, or dove-coloured, the yellow, the red, 

 and the black, moft of which are charged with a brown 

 and bright filvery matter. 



The county of Invernels has a great deal of this fort of 

 Hone, and there are numerous quarries in it for railing and 

 working of it. The common granite abounds in all the dif- 

 ferent diftrifts of it. In many places the whole rocks are 

 compofed of this kind, which is uncommonly ufeful for all 

 ordinary purpofes. By natural fiffures, which run in ftraight 

 lines, and generally at right angles, it is formed into all 

 fized portions and fhapes, having uniformly a plain furface. 

 And, by means of cutters or tranfverfe lines, thefe ftones 

 are eafily quarried, and found in the greateft plenty every 

 where. They are remarkably beautiful, being almoft as 

 fmooth and regular as hewn (lone, and of courle well fuited 

 for tarious forts of building work. The bell l)uildings of 

 the county-town are of a dark kind of granite, which is 

 very hard and durable, but which has few or no fiffures. It 

 is generally found in large blocks, and in many of thefe 

 parts, there is no other material for building or adding or- 

 nament with. The manner of giving it the polifli it admits 

 of at the quarries, is by means of fmall picks, or pick- 

 axes, which are, in fatl, hammers with (harp points at each 

 end, in the manner of thofe employed by millers in preparing 

 their grinding ftones. It is a very heavy, compaft ftone. 

 There is a mixed fort, denominated peafy granite, which 

 confifts of white, black, and grey fpots, that fparkle beau, 

 tifully in the fun, and is very ornamental, as well as much 

 ufed for different purpofes, as flairs, doors, and windows. 

 Though this is very folid, and almoll without natural fiffures, 

 it fplits very flraight, by means of iron wedges, fet in a 

 line, and firuck alternately, with a hammer of great 

 power. 



A great deal of this kind of ftone is imported into the 

 metropolis and other large towns, for paving the ftreets, &c. 

 It is on the whole a very advantageous fort of quarry mate- 

 rial in various parts of the kingdom. 



Quarries of free-ftone are wrought in a great number of 

 different places. In the more fouthern parts is found the 



Portland ftone, which is fo famous and ufeful in building. 

 A fort of this kind of ftone, which much approaches to it in 

 quahty, is alio met with in Cornwall. Some likewife exifts 



ill Devonfhire and Gloncefterfhire. The Cotfwold quarries 

 in the latter, afford free-ftone of an excellent quality, parti- 

 cularly thofe at Painfwick, Lodbnry, Lockhampton-hill, 

 &c. It abounds more, however, in Chefliire, Lancaftiire, 

 Wellmoreland, Cumberland, and fome of the ftill more 

 northern diftricts. Several excellent quarries of free-ftone 

 are carried on in the firfl of thefe, as thofe at Runcorn, 

 Manley, &c. where much valuable ftone of this nature is 

 raifed. The fecond county alfo affords equally valuable 

 quarries in many different places, from which vaft quantities 

 of the ftone are raifed, and employed, or fent away to a 

 diftance. Thofe, about Ormfl<irk, Up-HoUand, and Wi- 

 gan, as well as thofe on all thceaftern fide, are in general of 

 a very good quality. And in the vicinity of Lancafter 

 there are fome excellent ones ; that on the moor or common, 

 clofe to the town, is very extenfive, and affords a free-ftone 

 that admits of a fine polifh. In this diftrift, this fort of 

 ftone is met with of a whitifti-brown, yellowifh, and rcddifh 

 caft, but the firfl is by much the moft eftcemed. In the 

 eaftern parts of Wellmoreland, as about Hutton Roofc, 

 and fome other places, a good fort of free-ftone is dug up 

 from pits and quarries formed for raifing it. This fort of 

 ftone exifts and is quarried almoll all over the counties of 

 Cumberland and Northumberland ; and prevails occafionally 

 in others, where it is wrought to advantage. A grit-ftone, 

 fomevvhat of this nature, is met with in fome dillrids, as in 

 Shropfliire, &c. which is raifed from quarries, and ufed as 

 a building material. And a fand-ftone exifts to confiderable 

 extent in others, as in Suffex, &c. that is fometimes dug 

 up, and made ufe of for common buildings, &c. In 

 Chefhire, on the hills near Macclesfield, about Kerridge, a 

 fort of fand-flone is met vi^ith, which is particularly well 

 fuited to the making of flags, and whetting tools, as wellas 

 fometimes to the forming of flates, for which it was formerly 

 much employed. Near Pott-Shrigley, alfo, a fine fand- 

 ftone is found, that admits of a good pohlli. The quarry 

 has not, however, been wrought for fome late years, as from 

 the extreme hardnefs of the ftone, theexpence of getting it 

 is very confiderable. There are feveral other quarries of 

 excellent free-flone wrought in the fame neighbourhood. 



There has been great abundance of free-ftone wrought, 

 time immemorial, in the low parts of the county of Perth, 

 and quarries of a greater or fmaller grained ftone of this fort 

 appear almofl in every place, with the exception of the 

 carfes. In the lowlands, and near to the eaftern fea, the 

 pores and grain of it are greater ; but as the mountains are 

 approached, the pores are lefs, and the grain finer, by which 

 thefe ftones admit a fmoother polifh. The quarry of Tul- 

 lyalan parifh, called Long-annat, affords a ilone of a very 

 excellent quahty. It has a white colour, admits of a fmooth 

 polifh, and refills the influence of the weather. Some of 

 the principal houfes in that part of the country, as well as 

 fome of the moft magnificent public buildings in the capital 

 of Edinburgh, as thofe of the Exchange, the Infirmary, and 

 the Regifter-office, confiil partly of this ftone, and thofe 

 found at hand. And farther, in fome inftances it has been 

 carried to the continent. But the quarry of Kingoodie, in 

 the carfe of Gowrie, belonging to Mr. Mylnc, of Myln- 

 field, is unqueftionably the fineft of this kind of any in the 

 county. Attonifhing blocks in great number are raifed 

 there, fifty feet m length, fixteen feet in breadth, and three 

 feet in thicknefs. Such is the demand for this ftone, both 

 at home and abroad, that four veffels are employed in export- 

 ing it from thi;j quarry. The work is, however, on the de- 

 E e 2 cline. 



