Description

The monument comprises a stone-built inclined plane associated with the Ballachulish slate quarries.

Ballachulish slate quarries were the most important source of slate in Scotland. They opened c. 1693 and closed in the early 20th century. The inclined plane formerly carried wagons of dressed slate down to the piers and took empty wagons up to the working faces. Near its base there is an arched opening through which the former public road passed.

The inclined plane is the main monument now visible of this nationally important industry, since the area has been landscaped for amenity and safety. The area to scheduled measures 15m wide and 80m long, to include the monument and an area around it in which evidence of its construction may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is the last visible structural element surviving from a once-important national industrial complex. It is a dramatic and substantial monument of a rare type (other inclined planes survive largely as earthworks only), and it is a fine example of mid-19th-century civil engineering.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation

Source: Historic Environment Scotland