A preliminary assessment of the building sandstone quarries on the Hopetoun Estates, West Lothian, Scotland Geology and Landscape Northern Britain Programme Internal Report IR/06/094 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GEOLOGY AND LANDSCAPE NORTHERN BRITAIN PROGRAMME INTERNAL REPORT IR/06/094 A preliminary assessment of the building sandstone quarries on the The National Grid and other Hopetoun Estates, West Lothian, Ordnance Survey data are used with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Scotland Stationery Office. Licence No: 100017897/2005. Keywords A A McMillan Quarries, Building stone, Resources, West Lothian. Front cover Road bridge over the Union Canal south of Craigton House. The stone masonry is likely to have been sourced locally. Bibliographical reference MCMILLAN, A A. 2006. A preliminary assessment of the building sandstone quarries on the Hopetoun Estates, West Lothian, Scotland. British Geological Survey Internal Report, IR/06/094. 15pp. Copyright in materials derived from the British Geological Survey’s work is owned by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and/or the authority that commissioned the work. You may not copy or adapt this publication without first obtaining permission. Contact the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Section, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, e-mail [email protected]. You may quote extracts of a reasonable length without prior permission, provided a full acknowledgement is given of the source of the extract. Maps and diagrams in this book use topography based on Ordnance Survey mapping. © NERC 2006. All rights reserved Keyworth, Nottingham British Geological Survey 2006 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY The full range of Survey publications is available from the BGS British Geological Survey offices Sales Desks at Nottingham, Edinburgh and London; see contact details below or shop online at www.geologyshop.com Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG The London Information Office also maintains a reference 0115-936 3241 Fax 0115-936 3488 collection of BGS publications including maps for consultation. e-mail: [email protected] The Survey publishes an annual catalogue of its maps and other www.bgs.ac.uk publications; this catalogue is available from any of the BGS Sales Shop online at: www.geologyshop.com Desks. The British Geological Survey carries out the geological survey of Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the latter as an agency 0131-667 1000 Fax 0131-668 2683 service for the government of Northern Ireland), and of the e-mail: [email protected] surrounding continental shelf, as well as its basic research projects. It also undertakes programmes of British technical aid in geology in developing countries as arranged by the Department London Information Office at the Natural History Museum for International Development and other agencies. (Earth Galleries), Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DE The British Geological Survey is a component body of the Natural Environment Research Council. 020-7589 4090 Fax 020-7584 8270 020-7942 5344/45 email: [email protected] Forde House, Park Five Business Centre, Harrier Way, Sowton, Exeter, Devon EX2 7HU 01392-445271 Fax 01392-445371 Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, Colby House, Stranmillis Court, Belfast BT9 5BF 028-9038 8462 Fax 028-9038 8461 Maclean Building, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB 01491-838800 Fax 01491-692345 Columbus House, Greenmeadow Springs, Tongwynlais, Cardiff, CF15 7NE 029–2052 1962 Fax 029–2052 1963 Parent Body Natural Environment Research Council, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 1EU 01793-411500 Fax 01793-411501 www.nerc.ac.uk IR/06/094; Draft 0.1 Last modified: 2006/07/14 10:31 Foreword This report sets out the observations made at the various quarry sites on the Hopetoun Estates, West Lothian, Scotland and comments on the current status of the quarries and their geological context and summarises knowledge of the historical use of stone from these sources. Based upon this reconnaissance the report offers preliminary opinion on the potential for reopening one or more sandstone quarries and possible options for open new workings. The report was compiled at the request of Mr A McKinney, Scottish Stone Liaison Group (SSLG), acting for Mr Donald Noble, Factor, Hopetoun Estates. Acknowledgements The Factor, Hopetoun Estates is thanked for permission to access to the quarry sites on the Estate. The author acknowledges assistance of Mr A McKinney (SSLG) in the field reconnaissance, and Mr M A E Browne (BGS) for reviewing the report. Contents Foreword.........................................................................................................................................i Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................................i Contents...........................................................................................................................................i 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................ 1 2 Summary of the bedrock geology and structure ................................................................. 1 2.1 Stratigraphy and lithology .............................................................................................. 1 2.2 Structural and sedimentological control on the distribution of the strata....................... 2 2.3 Igneous rocks.................................................................................................................. 2 3 Description of the Quarries................................................................................................... 2 3.1 Hopetoun Obelisk Quarry [NT094 787]......................................................................... 2 3.2 Newton Quarry [NT 0889 7815] .................................................................................... 3 3.3 Hopetoun White quarries [NT 0735 7735]..................................................................... 3 3.4 Duntarvie Castle quarries ............................................................................................... 4 3.5 Cockmuir Quarry [NT 0664 7657]................................................................................. 4 3.6 Craigton Dolerite quarries [NT 0757 7692] ................................................................... 5 3.7 Barnbank Quarry, Craigton [NT 0677 7675] ................................................................. 5 3.8 Winchburgh Quarry [NT 0969 7600]............................................................................. 6 3.9 Humbie Quarry [NT 1093 7567] .................................................................................... 6 i IR/06/094; Draft 0.1 Last modified: 2006/07/14 10:31 4 Options for assessment of resources..................................................................................... 7 4.1 Dunnet Sandstone........................................................................................................... 7 4.2 Binny Sandstone.............................................................................................................8 References ...................................................................................................................................... 8 FIGURES Figure 1. West face of Cockmuir (Craigton) quarry showing thick massive sandstone on thinly bedded sandstone and laminated siltstones. Apparent dip to the west. 4 Figure 2. Section in thickly bedded sandstone adjacent to and south of the Edinburgh – Glasgow railway cutting. North of the railway is the site of Barnbank Quarry. Dip west 6 Figure 3 North end of Humbie Quarry. Thickly bedded, massive sandstone overlain by medium to thin bedded sandstone and laminated siltstone. Dip undulatory and is to the east at this location. 7 ii IR/06/094; Draft 0.1 Last modified: 2006/07/14 10:31 1 Introduction At the request of Mr A McKinney, Scottish Stone Liaison Group (SSLG), acting on behalf of Mr Donald Noble, Factor Hopetoun Estates, the British Geological Survey (BGS) was invited to visit the Hopetoun Estates, West Lothian with the intention of making a preliminary assessment of some of the former building sandstone quarries of the Estate and offer a statement on future resource potential. Mr A McMillan (BGS) attended an initial meeting with Mr McKinney and Mr Noble at the Hopetoun Estates Office, Newton in December 2005. This was followed up with a series of visits by Mr A McMillan (BGS) and Mr A McKinney (SSLG) on 10 February 2006 and 10 July and 12 July 2006 to the sites of some of the former major quarries on the Estates’ property. This report sets out the observations made at the various quarry sites, comments on the current status of the quarries and their geological context and summarises knowledge of the historical use of stone from these sources. Based upon this reconnaissance the report offers preliminary opinion on the potential for reopening one or more sandstone quarries and possible options for opening new workings. 2 Summary of the bedrock geology and structure 2.1 STRATIGRAPHY AND LITHOLOGY Most of the Hopetoun Estate is underlain by strata of the West Lothian Oil-Shale Formation (Browne et al., 1996) of Lower Carboniferous age. The formation is divided into a lower Calders Member and an upper Hopetoun Member (Chisholm et al., 1989). The Hopetoun Member was proposed by Chisholm