View of slate archway

Description View of slate archway

Date 18/9/1883

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 746283

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of AG 1391

Scope and Content Slate Archway, Ballachulish, Highland Ballachulish, a straggling village which developed to serve the Laroch slate quarries, sits on the south shore of the sea-arm of Loch Leven. A great slate archway, which forms the entrance to East Laroch quarry, was photographed c.1890 by the Victorian photographer, Erskine Beveridge. This great wall of slate, one of several found in the Ballachulish area, was quarried and worked by the side of the loch where workmen split and trimmed the rock for roofing slates. The traditional 19th-century white-painted houses and cottages on the shore were built for the quarry-workers. Slate was first quarried on a small scale at Laroch farm in 1761. By the late 19th century, it had become a huge industry in Ballachulish, supplying most of the slate for western Scotland, and exporting to England and America. The Laroch quarries employed over 400 men on a quarry face 1,400m long, and the finished supplies of slate were transported from Loch Linnhe by sea. The slate quarries closed c.1955. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/746283

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap