Levenseat Quarries

NS95NW 7.00 centred 94 58

NS95NW 7.01 NS 940 594 Works (CSW 1689)

NS95NW 7.02 Centred NS 9430 5881 Quarry (CSW 1643-8 and 1653-8)

NS95NW 7.03 Centred NS 9407 5849 Quarry (CSW 1634, 1641-2, 1645, 1652, 2815 and 2817)

NS95NW 7.04 Centred NS 942 575 Quarry (CSW 1616-19, 1628-9 and 1633)

NS95NW 7.05 NS c. 9448 5922 to 943 583 and 946 579 Tramways

NS95NW 7.06 NS 9420 5976 to c. 937 593 and 937 598 to c. 918 570 Railways

NS95NW 7.07 Centred NS 9438 5850 and 9445 5835 Quarries; Building (CSW 1627, 1631-2, 1635-7 and 1651)

NS95NW 7.08 Centred NS 945 585 Quarries; Shafts (possible); Building (CSW 1620-6)

NS95NW 7.09 NS c. 941 598 to 938 579 Shafts; Spoil Tips (CSW 2809-11 and 2813-24)

NS95NW 7.10 Centred NS 942 598 Quarries (CSW 1659-61, 1665-9, 1671-7 and 1686)

NS95NW 7.11 Centred NS 9425 5729 Quarry; Tramway (possible); Spoil Tip; Shaft (CSW 1687-8)

NS95NW 7.12 NS 9375 5826 Coal Mine; Shafts; Sheepfold

NS95NW 7.13 Centred NS 94702 59382 Quarry; Lime works; Mineral Railway

For other sites defined within the areas of the quarries, see:

NS95NW 6 NS 9437 5926 Levenseat House House

NS95NW 8.00 NS 94 59 Levenseat Rig

NS95NW 9 NS 9464 5758 Leven Seat Cairn (possible)

NS95NW 10 NS 9482 5789 Leven Seat Sheepfold

NS95NW 11 NS 9495 5807 Longbirn Sheepfold

NS95NW 12 NS 9441 5730 Leven Seat, Well

NS95NW 13.00 NS 9460 5997 West Handaxwood Farmhouse; Farmsteading

NS95NW 14 NS 9480 5901 Miller's Moss Sheepfold

NS95NW 15 NS 9372 5925 Bank Head Burn Rifle Range

The remains of an extensive complex of quarries, adits or galleries and (possibly) shafts can be identified among and above modern limestone quarries (NS95NW 7.02, 7.03 and 7.04) and their associated processing plant (NS95NW 7.01) on the NW-facing slope that rises to the hill of Leven Seat. The 'Shafts (disused)' and 'Shake Holes' that are noted on the current (1991) edition of the OS 1:10,000 map may be variously interpreted as vertical shafts, the results of gallery collapse or natural sink-holes. The area is at an altitude of between about 225m and 356m OD, and the natural vegetation varies between very rough grass and deep peat. Some areas of recent quarrying have been re-instated as improved grassland. Carboniferous limestone has been principally extracted, along with significant quantities of sand and at least small amounts of coal.

Mining at Levenseat first comes on record in about 1821 when the Wilsontown estate map of that (inferred) date depicts limestone workings, trial borings and related structures. They were linked by an 'Old Road' which apparently ran close to the line of the later tramway (NS95NW 7.05). In 1845 the author of the New Statistical Account noted that 'At Leven-seat...and at Badd?s Mill..., coal has been found, and the working of it has been in progress at both these places. The supply has yet been small and of inferior quality'.

The 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey 6-inch map (Edinburghshire, 1863-4, sheet xv) was surveyed in 1852-9 and depicts what was evidently then a large and co-ordinated system of limestone quarries. An irregular 'Limestone Quarry' (centred at NS 945 580) and a 'Quarry' (centred at NS 944 583) are linked by a bifurcated linear feature (presumably a tramway) which leads downhill to a 'Limekiln' at NS c. 944 593. The 'Quarries' that are noted at NS 947 578 and the 'Shafts' and 'Refuse Heaps' that extend from NS c 941 588 to NS c. 943 579 presumably represent earlier workings on a smaller scale. Roofed buildings are depicted at NS 9467 5805, 9460 5816 and c. 9447 5835 respectively, and are presumably associated with quarrying operations. The tramway and the working quarries may be identified with NS95NW 7.05 and 7.07 respectively.

The 2nd edition of the same map (new series, sheets x.SW and .SE, as re-surveyed and revised in 1893 and 1904) depicts a much more complex and extensive system of workings. A further 'Old Tramway' and a 'Mineral Railway (Disused)' are to be seen in the W of the workings, while the E (original) tramway has acquired a further branch (to the SSW). Numerous new quarries have been opened, while the mineral railway has apparently served to link the complex with further mines on Risland Knowes (NS 92 58) and beyond.

In 1949, Robertson, Simpson and Anderson noted that the Castlecary Limestone was formerly quarried for about a mile along its outcrop, and was later mined extensively in depth; the dip was to the W at 10 degrees. At its best it was 7 1/2 to 9 ft. thick and mainly white in colour, but, as in other areas, it was irregular in development, and was said to have deteriorated to the dip in the workings. Both N and S of the old quarries the limestone was cut off by faulting, and there was little likelihood of any available reserves. Vertical air photographs of the same year (541A/RAF/468 frames 3017-9 and 4017-19, dated 26 April 1949) show the quarry-system in operation, the central quarry (NS95NW 7.03) being worked and a tramway (from NS c. 941 586 to NS 940 593) being used to feed what is apparently the present works (NS95NW 7.01), whence material is taken out of the site by a railway system.

On the basis of this evidence, the following sequence of phases may be proposed:

I Exploitation (possibly intermittent) of the most southerly quarries (NS95NW 7.08) using tracks for access. The quarries along the Kiln Burn (NS95NW 7.10) may also be attributed to this phase, which may be dated to before the mid 19th century.

II Large-scale exploitation of the southern mines, galleries and quarries (NS95NW 7.07) using the eastern tramway-system (NS95NW 7.05) to feed the limekiln downhill. This phase may be dated to the mid-19th century, and is documented in the OS Name Book.

III Large-scale exploitation of a much wider area, particularly to the W and SW (NS95NW 7.09 and 7.11), based upon access by standard-gauge railways and the western tramway-system which also provided access to further quarrying-complexes to the SW (centred NS 92 57). This phase may have lasted through the later 19th and earlier 20th centuries with considerable fluctuations in output as world economic conditions fluctuated. Minerals other than limestone may have been exploited in this phase.

IV Extensive post-1946 re-development, initially using tram- and railway transport but later using road haulage both within and beyond the quarry-system. Quarries NS95NW 7.02, 7.03, 7.04 and 7.12 date from this phase.

(CSW 7177).

Visited by RCAHMS (RJCM/JRS), 9-10 November 1994; Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 19 December 1994.

Wilsontown Estate Map (copy in National Library of Scotland: undated and no accession number); NSA; T Robertson, JB Simpson and JGC Anderson 1949; NMRS MS/731/11.