stirling-1963-vol-1/05_092

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INTRODUCTION : THE MIDDLE AGES AND LATER
mined in his district "for several centuries" before 1795, and he has left an interesting
description of the "very awkward and irregular manner" in which the work was done in earlier
times. ¹ No remains of "creeping heughs", which he describes as "large excavations on the
surface", have been found in the course of this survey, and only one set of workings (No. 564)
for which even a moderate degree of antiquity can be claimed; it is probable that in most cases
later and larger-scale operations have obliterated the early traces. With the 18th century
steam-power was introduced into coal-mines, and at Elphinstone "a fire-engine to work the
coal" - actually a Newcomen engine, the first of its kind in Scotland - was in use in 1723 ²;
but formidable difficulties of drainage and ventilation were still encountered, and many
Scottish pits closed between 1700 and 1750, after which date Watt's improved steam-
engine permitted the industry to revive. The improvement effected in blast-furnaces in the
middle of the 18th century made possible the use of coke for smelting instead of wood-
charcoal, the change having been made at Carron about 1770.
Other minerals were of very much less importance. Copper was mind in the Airthrey
district, together with some gold and silver, in the reign of James V, ³ and copper was again
produced intermittently at several later periods, ⁴ but the remains of the workings now visible
at Bridge of Allan (No. 561) presumably belong to their most recent phase.
In the case of quarries, signs of earlier working must generally have been obliterated as, for
example, at Kilsyth, where limestone quarries were very heavily exploited in the 19th century.
There is good reason to suppose that the quarry at Airth (No. 565) supplied material for the
church in the 13th century, but it was still in use in 1723. ⁵ Two millstone quarries have been
noted in the western part of the county, and, while one (Spittal, No. 568) consist only of the
hollows from which two stones have been removed, the other (No. 567) ranges extensively
over the outcrops of Craigmaddie Muir and shows millstones in almost every stage of
manufacture (Pl. 158).
A salt-pan on the lands of Callendar is mentioned in a charter of about 1142 ⁶ and again in
the reign of Malcolm IV ⁷; the second grant covers fuel for the salt-pan to be taken from the
wood of Callendar. Salt-pans are also on record in 1707. ⁸ No remains of any pans have been
found in the course of this survey.

BLOOMERIES
Bloomeries are so plentiful in parts of the area north-east of Loch Lomond that it has seemed
unnecessary to do more than note a few typical examples, under Nos. 569 and 570. They
consist of larger or smaller mounds of slag, cinders and charcoal, and result from the reduction
of iron ore by a well-known primitive process. ⁹ This requires no more than the heating of the

1 Stat. Acct. xv (1795), 330. This section of the account of Campsie parish deserves perusal in full.
2 Geogr. Collections, i, 329.
3 Cochran-Patrick, R. W., Early Records relating to Mining in Scotland, xxii, xxv.
4 Ibid., lvi f. For the history and technical aspects of all mineral exploitation and prospecting in this area see Wilson, G. V.,
The Lead, Zinc, Copper and Nickel Ores of Scotland (Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Scotland; Special Reports on the
Mineral Resources of Great Britain), xvii, 142.
5 Geogr. Collections, i, 329.
6 Newbattle, No. 162.
7 Ibid., No. 163.
8 Sibbald, History, 48, 61. Cf. also Geogr. Collections, i, 329.
9 This is described by Fell, A., The Early Iron Industry of Furness and District, 164 ff. The Commissioners are indebted to
Miss Clare I. Fell, F.S.A., for all the references here quoted to the iron industry of Lancashire. In P.S.A.S., xxi (1886-7), 92,
Macadam quotes the description of an Indian bloomery-furnace from Ure, Dictionary of the Arts, Manufactures and Mines.

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