Listen to the
Granite - the stone talks
“Our history
makes us what we are. Our geology makes us what we are”
(Creetown Resident: April 2013)
‘In
the parish of Kirkmabreck very extensive operations in granite working have
been carried on for a long series of years. Adjoining the public road leading
to Gatehouse, about two miles from Creetown, is an extensive quarry, leased by
the Liverpool Dock Trustees. All the stones procured there are used for dock
purposes only. There are four vessels constantly employed by the Liverpool
Company in transporting the stones to their docks, and other vessels are often
engaged in the same service. On one occasion, when the quay at this place was transferred
from one proprietor's land to that of another, there were nineteen vessels
constantly occupied for six months in the removal to the banks of the Mersey of
the material that had accumulated at the abandoned wharf. About two miles east
from these works, on the farm of Bagbie, on the estate of Kirkdale, belonging
to Major Rainford Hannay, a quarry was opened in February 1864 by Messrs
Forrest, Wise, & Templeton. The stone of this quarry is of first-class
quality, and, like that at Kirkmabreck, can be worked without blasting. In
connection with their works the firm have a commodious quay erected for the
shipment of such portions of their prepared materials as are transported by
sea, and between it and the quarry they have constructed a tramway. There is
still another quarry in this neighbourhood deserving notice. It is situated
near the apex of the hill at whose base are the Kirkmabreck quarries, and
almost in a straight line from these works. It is within the farm of Fell, and
hence called Fell Quarry. It is worked by the Scottish Granite Company. Messrs
Newall have an extensive polishing establishment. The process of polishing is
of recent introduction into Galloway, the first experiments in it having been
made by the late Mr Andrew Newall a few years ago. By Messrs D. H. & J.
Newall the art has been brought to a state of great perfection, and is
extensively carried on by them with a constantly increasing business. From
their quarries on Craignair the firm are supplied with part of their material
for polished work’
The
Industries of Scotland, their Rise, Progress and Present Condition
- By David
Bremner (1869)
“Our history
makes us what we are. Our geology makes us what we are”
(Creetown Resident: April 2013)
Creetown
is built on and from granite - its houses made from stone quarried from the
surrounding hills. This granite, formed around 400 million years ago - was
derived from the partial melting of rocks lower within the earth’s crust, where
the heat and deformation caused by continental collision was most intense. A
course grained igneous rock composed of quartz, feldspar and mica - the
whiteness of Creetown granite is due to its high levels of quartz - which...
“sparkles in the sunlight”
(Creetown
Resident: March 2013)
Quarry
men have said that the stone talked, that you had to wait and listen to the
stone. On a still and quiet day you could hear the granite clicking as the plug
and feathers were tapped in....as the pressure on the stone gradually built up
to splitting point.
With harder
materials, such as granite, before the introduction of pneumatic drills stone
was traditionally split manually, with quarry workers using the ‘plug and
feather’ method. This involved boring lines of holes along the stone’s grain
using iron rods. Iron plugs and wedges were then inserted into the holes and
struck with a maul, in order to gradually split the stone apart.
The
word "granite" comes from
the Latin word "granum", a grain.
“Creetown
granite is hard to work” (Creetown Resident: March 2013)
‘......due to it’s tangled reed’...........’The ‘reed’ is
the local word for the granite’s grain - and is equivalent to the grain in wood’
(In Context: Hideo Furuta and Adamson
Square)
How did quarrying granite (‘one of the hardest materials on earth’)
shape the character of the Creetown men who worked it? – How did this in turn, shape
the lives and character of their children and their children’s children?
‘Stones have their natural tendencies, as well as mortal men.....’
‘The block of granite, which was an
obstacle in the pathway of the weak, became a stepping-stone in the pathway of
the strong’
Thomas Carlyle
‘The unforgiving nature of granite
demanded of him very long hours, patience and the skill of a mason’..........Former
Quarrymen... ‘recognised in him a
straightforwardness, honesty and dedication..' (In Context: Hideo Furuta and Adamson Square)
“Creetown is not a pretentious place,
people here have a strong work ethic – this is a working village” (Creetown Resident: April 2013)
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