Blackshaw Hill

A desk-based assessment and reconnaissance field survey have been carried out for the Proposed Development Site. Seventeen cultural heritage assets (sites and features) have been identified within the Proposed Development Site. These range in date from the early prehistoric (Neolithic/Bronze Age) to the post-medieval period and include a well-preserved cup and ring marked rock, which is a Scheduled Monument, several prehistoric artefact find-spots, a possible prehistoric enclosure and later post-medieval settlement and agrarian activity.

Funder: Community Windpower Ltd.

CFA Archaeology Ltd

OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-260699

A large irregular quarry, annotated ‘Blackshaw Quarry (sandstone)’, is depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1st Edition map (Ayr, 1858, Sheet X1.5 (West Kilbride), 25 inch) and subsequent Ordnance Survey maps (1896, 1910). Three roofed buildings are depicted on the 1910 Ordnance Survey map within the quarry.

Field survey identified the quarry just west of a farm access track. The quarry is spread over an area c. 130m long by 70m wide, and 3m - 4m deep. Several trackways, as depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1910 25 inch map, lead into the quarried area from the east. Worked faces are visible on the western side of the quarry and several large blocks of stone have been abandoned at the base of the quarry. No remains of the buildings, shown on the 1910 Ordnance Survey map survive. Two

small corrugated constructed structures are located on the western side of the quarry and are currently used as animal shelters; these appear to be recent structures.

Information from OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-260699 (M Hastie) 2015