Correen Quarry

NJ52SW 33 centred 5218 2130

Correen Quarry

(Disused) [NAT]

OS 1:10,000 map.

Correen Quarry is now abandoned and largely clad in heather, but its workings and attendant spoil dumps still form impressive skyline features on the parish boundary of Auchindoir and Kearn with Tullynessle and Forbes. The quarry probably dates from the early to mid-19th century, and is undoubtedly that mentioned in the New Statistical Account as having 'lately been discovered' on the estate of Druminnor. The account also makes reference to the durability of the stone and its capacity to be split into slabs, which were used to 'form excellent pavements for footpaths around farm offices, or for the floors of kitchens or cellars'. The workings, spoil dumps and two adjoining roofed buildings are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire, 1869, sheet lii), but, by the turn of the century the quarry was disused and the buildings are depicted as unroofed on the 2nd edition of the map (Aberdeenshire, 1902, sheet lii.NW).

Much of what survives is shown on the 1st edition of the OS map. Stone was first quarried from surface exposures and then been chased underground, following the steeply dipping strata to the NNW; in places deep, steep-sided pits now remain. The accompanying spoil dumps are substantial, in some instances backfilling earlier working faces, and the two buildings shown on the maps appear to have been built on a levelled area within the spoil. These buildings housed men working at the quarry. Both are of rubble construction and comprise two compartments with outshots to the front, SE, side. A wall, springing from the SW corner of the south-western building, encloses an area or yard to the front of the buildings, and another enclosure, defined by a low rubble wall, lies to the S at the foot of a spoil dump.

The south-western building is the larger and measures 12m from NE to SW by 4.7m transversely over walls up to 0.8m in thickness and 1.4m in height. It shares the NE corner of its E end with the second building, which measures 8.6m from ENE to WSW by 3.9m transversely overall. A, short length of wall links its SE corner to what is probably a smaller single compartment building measuring 4m from NNW to SSE by 3m transversely overall.

The 1st edition map also shows the network of tracks that served the quarry, running to the N, W and SE. Only the N track continues in use today. Little can now be seen of the track that ran W from the quarry, crossing the Blacklatch Burn and climbing onto Limer Shank, but the track that served the lower working from the SE can still be followed for much of its length. This lower working appears to have been extended in the late 19th century, and is the only noticeable difference between the depictions shown on the 1st and 2nd editions of the OS map. A roofed building shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10,000 (1973) map in the northernmost working but this is no more than a corrugated iron shed of relatively recent date which serves as a lunch-hut for shooting parties.

Visited by RCAHMS (ARG), 27 August 1998.

NSA 1845.