STRATHKINNESS QUARRIES

Quarrying was one of the most important industries in Strathkinness,

going back many hundreds of years and continuing well into this century.

There were 122 men (and boys) recorded in Strathkinness (not including

the large farms in the area) in 1841, and of these about 15 were quarry workers

—

one man was listed as a publican as well. There were proportionately more

men working in the quarries from Knockhill, Nydie, Edenside and Kincaple.

When weaving, which had been the main occupation of the village, began to

decline, more men became quarry workers, although even more became agri-

cultural workers. Some of these men who were forced to give up weaving

became labourers in the quarries. The number of men working in the quarries

in Strathkinness had at least doubled between 1841 and 1881. As late as 1911

the traffic from the quarries was still heavy, and the District Road Surveyor

reported that year “The traffic from the freestone quarry at Knockhill,

Strathkinness to St. Andrews has cut up that road”.

Rosa/md Garton, geologist and resident of Strathkinness, has written the

following note about the Strathkinness quarries:—

‘Strathkinness lies on rocks of the Calciferous Sandstone Series of the

Carboniferous Period which comprise thick sandstones with limestone, coal

and ironstone interbedded, all of which have been worked in the vicinity.

‘There were many sandstone quarries in the village in the past, some of

which have been infilled. With the exception of Nydie, the largest of the

quarries, it is impossible to say from which quarry stone was used for parti-

cular buildings. Even at Nydie there was probably more than one quarry

worked. There are quarry holes in several places in the village; by Bonfield

Farm, in the field northwest of the village beyond Bonfield Park (which has

been built on an old quarry), at the copse of oak and fir trees on the north

side of the Strathkinness—Nydie Road and at Nydie itself. The Nydie quarry

is still in existence, although overgrown. As was often the case with quarries,

towards the end of its life shallow mining took place and there is now a gallery

supported by pillars of sandstone.

‘The earliest record of the use of Strathkinness stone is in the facing of

St. Rule’s Chapel which was completed in 1070. The Statistical Account of

Scotland 1790 tells of St. Rule’s being faced with Strathkinness stone, possibly

because sea stone or rubble was used as internal filling. This is visibly the

case in the ruined wall at the west end of the cathedral, where Strathkinness

stone covers a variety of rock rubble including pieces of igneous rock.

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