Ardmaddy Castle, Marble Quarry

NM 786 157. This quarry is situated in the valley of an unnamed burn, about 150 m from the E shore of Ardmaddy Bay and about 660 m S of Ardmaddy Castle (No. 310). Beds of marble, red and white or grey and white in colour, are exposed in the floor of the valley; the sides of the valley are formed by igneous rocks which overlie the marble. A ridge of marble on the SW bank of the burn, which appears to have been originally about 6 m in length and 2.9 m in height, has been completely quarried away, leaving a vertical face which displays evidence of the removal of slabs about 0.9 m in length. The worked surface bears drill-holes 0.04 m in diameter, spaced at intervals of from 0.11 m to 0.20 m. Another worked face is visible at the base of the cliff about 12.2 m W of this, and others are concealed by dense vegetation. A well-built track leads from the quarry to the jetties that are situated about 320 m to the SW (p. 251). At the side of this track, about 120 m NW of the quarry, there lies a roughly-squared block of red and white marble measuring 0.7 m by 1.4 m by 0.9 m, which bears drill-marks similar to those already described.

This quarry was worked from 1745 to 1751 by the ‘Marble and Slate Company of Netherlorn', which alsoo perated the slate-quarries at Easdale (No. 356) and elsewhere. The leading partners were Colin Campbell of Carwhin (cf. p. 252), who acted as manager, and John Campbell, cashier of the Royal Bank of Scotland. By February 1748 several large blocks of marble had been raised, and in May of that year the company 'being strangers, in many respects, to the nature of marble', prepared a list of questions concerning the quarrying and sale of marble, which were answered by Andrews Jelfe, the London architect and stone-carver. In the same year a pier was completed, and the road leading to it was begun. Chimney-pieces were supplied to several Scottish landowners; but when Charles Erskine, Lord Tinwald, supplied designs for elaborate chimney-pieces, he was asked to accept a simpler design with few mouldings, which could be supplied at £8 or £9 apiece. The fireplace-surrounds at Ardmaddy Castle (p. 250) are probably typical of those produced by the company, whichf ound difficulty in obtaining reliable skilled workmen. The method of working, as described in 1749, was for one workman to hold a drill or 'jumper' in place vertically, while another struck it with a heavy hammer, and this operation was repeated at intervals of about 0.03 m. Similar drill-holes were made on all sides of the block, which was finally removed with iron wedges, and trimmed by sawing. An improvement which had been introduced involved single workmen using a jumper fitted with a 16-pound weight, but the operation continued to be 'expensive and tedious'. In 1750 it was reported that thirteen men were employed, but that the marble being worked was mixed with whinstone, and blasting was necessary; at the end of the following season the quarry was abandoned (en.1).

RCAHMS 1975, visited May 1970

En.1. S.R.O., Breadalbane Collection. GD 112/18/22, Marble Company Minute-book, 1746-57, passim.