Publication Account
Date 1987
Event ID 1016821
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016821
The Charlestown limekilns were part of an early industrial complex based on lime, limestone and coal production on the estate of the Earl of Elgin. The seam of limestone ran parallel to the north shore of the Firth of Forth it was from 6m to 15m thick and produced a white durable freestone capable of taking a fme polish. In the mid 18th century the 5th Earl of Elgin decided to expand his undertakings by the construction of a new harbour, new draw kilns and a tramway between the quarry and the kilns.
Charles town harbour was the fIrst area to be considered and the existing inner basin was constructed about 1770. The outer basin was added later, the north-west pier from about 1840 and the south-east pier at the end of the 19th century. The harbour was an immediate success and by the early 1790s it was handling 1,300 separate cargoes of manufactured lime in addition to its coal and freestone cargoes.
The Charlestown limekilns were the largest group of limekilns in Scotland and played an important role in the agricultural improvements of the 18th and 19th centuries in providing lime for the improvement of the soil and for the construction of new farm buildings.
The present range of kilns date from 1777 and 1778 when construction work was started on 9 of the 14 kilns. The limestone was carried to the kilns on a horse-drawn tramway known as the Elgin Railway. This was later replaced by a branch line of the North British Railway which has now been lifted. Of the original kilns, all but the three at the east end of the range have been refaced. They are all draw kilns and constructed of dressed ashlar.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).
