General view of hand crane.
B 9494/12
Description General view of hand crane.
Date 20/6/1979
Collection Records of the Scottish Industrial Archaeology Survey at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Sco
Catalogue Number B 9494/12
Category Manuscripts
Copies SC 751447
Scope and Content Detail of hand crane at W G Patterson & Co, Knowehead Quarry, Dumfries & Galloway Knowehead Quarry, Locharbriggs, is 3.2km north-east of Dumfries. Originally opened about 1890, the quarry enjoyed an economic boom between 1895 and 1910. It closed with the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and did not re-open until 1935, when a brick works was also established on the site. This shows the controls of one of the hand-operated cranes made by Butters Bros & Co of Glasgow. Each crane could carry a load of 0.76 tonne and had a 7.6m-long jib. The quarry also operated an electric crane which had been converted from steam power. One quarry is still active at Locharbriggs out of the many that once produced local sandstone. When the quarry reopened in 1935 there were some 50 employees. By the late 1970s there were only ten and most of the stone produced was used in repair work rather than the construction of new buildings. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
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