Description

The monument comprises the remains of limestone quarrying, limestone burning, and coal mining of 19th century date, chiefly visible as upstanding features.

The monument is situated in rough pasture at between 220-240m O.D. and comprises limestone quarries, spoil heaps and clamp kilns. The area of limestone quarrying extends over an area c. 990m (NNW-SSE) by up to 200m transversely. The quarry faces lie along the E side of the workings with spoil dumped to the W.

At least sixty-eight U-shaped lime clamps, mostly aligned roughly E to W, and open to the W, have been excavated into the spoil, predominately along the W edge of the workings. These measure on average c. 12m E-W by 6m N-S externally. Local knowledge refers also to coal mining with a shaft entrance located in the area of the site immediately to the W of Brewshott.

The Ordnance Survey First Edition map (1864) shows the area of workings as rough ground and depicts the northern half of these workings, consisting of at least 18 clamp kilns. Another c. 50 clamp kilns are visible in the southern half of the area, but the OS map of 1864 only depicts the spoil tips there, suggesting that that part of the site had been abandoned by the mid-19th Century (RCAHMS 1998, 39).

Clamp kilns were simple constructions consisting of a sub-rectangular or oval chamber formed either by digging into sloping ground or by constructing a pair of banks, usually joined at one end to form a U-shape. Limestone and coal were stacked up in the chamber and covered with turf before firing. After burning, perhaps for as much as 10 days, the structure was dismantled and the lime shovelled out (RCAHMS 1998, 38)

The area proposed for scheduling comprises the remains described and an area around each of them within which related material may be expected to be found. It is irregular in shape, with a maximum dimension of 962m NNW-SSE as marked in red on the accompanying map extract. The above ground components of the field boundaries, and the surface of the track present within the scheduled area, are excluded from the schedule.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

This site represents important evidence of extractive industries and lime production in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This is one of the best examples of this kind of integrated industrial complex, the chief purpose of which was the production of calcined lime as an agricultural fertiliser, but which was also in great demand for mortar in the construction industry, as a flux in iron manufacture, and as a purifying agent in gas production. The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to an understanding of 19th limestone workings. Their importance is increased by their group value.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NS 95 SW 26.

Bibliographic references:

RCAHMS (1998) Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, 'Forts, Farms and Furnaces. Archaeology in the Central Scotland Forest'. Edinburgh.

Map references:

Ordnance Survey (1864) First Edition (Lanarkshire) sheet XX, 6 inches to 1 mile.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland