Thread: Ratho Hone Quarry, Midlothian, Scotland

I included this quarry in the thread I started attempting to catalogue the sources of different hones. Unfortunately, at the time, the only information I had was that the quarry was working in 1810. However, thanks to the British Geological Survey, I now have an article which provides some more information concerning the Ratho Hone Quarry. The article, entitled An Old Hone-stone Quarry near Ratho authored by T. Cuthbert Day & David Tait, was published in The Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society in 1927. Although it's an old article, I'm not sure if there is any copyright which might still apply, so I won't post the full article, just the recorded highlights.

The quarry itself is found NW of Ratho Hall, in a wood, in an area occupied by a large quartz-dolerite sill. Prior to the article, the only mention of Ratho Quarry in the literature was found in A System of Modern Geography, or the Natural and Political History of the Present State of the World by John Smith and published in 1810, "Midlothian- The county teems abundantly with coal, limestone, freestone and iron-ore. Petunce Petlandica, of which porcelain is made, is found in the Pentland Hills; hones of excellent quality in the parish of Ratho..." Unfortunately, at the time of the 1927 article, the quarry had long since fallen into disuse and was being used as a rubbish dump. The quarry contains horizontal bands of clay and sandy clay sediment which have been altered by contact with igneous rock which is found at the top of the quarry. The rock is not hard, and has a spotted appearance, which is indicative of the formation of new minerals by heat, certain bands of which were valued for hones, (as I've mentioned previously, the various terms used to describe sharpening stones, often have a distinct order of use in earlier works and I would think given the age of the article that the word hone used here indicates a fine stone). The article doesn't specify which bands were favoured for the manufacture of hone stones.

A comparitive analysis of a section of stone from 3 inches below the igneous rock, one from 25 feet below (which has a distinctive speckled appearance) and a section of Water of Ayr stone concludes the article. As the authors note a resemblance between the speckled Ratho Stone and the Water of Ayr stone, I think that when they say Water of Ayr they are in fact referring to the stone that we know as the Tam O Shanter. All three rocks are hardened clays, with a high percentage of alkalies, with the sample coming from just below the igneous rock also containing large amounts of isotropic silica which have grown around very small quartz-grains, much the same as the WOA. The abrasive qualities of all three rocks being derived from the presence of secondary isotropic silica and a freedom from quartz grains of any size.

The following table of analysis reads from left to right: results from section 3 inches below igneous rock, from section 25 feet below igneous rock and lastly, the section of Water of Ayr stone.

SiO2: 64.78%, 52.12%, 65.49%
Al2O3: 15.75%, 21.64%, 18.09%
TiO2: .88%, .85%, .77%
P2O3: .30%, .22%, .23%
Fe2O3: 2.60%, 1.70%, 1.74%
FeO: 3.56%, 6.18%, 3.44%
FeS2: n/a, .26%, .31%
CaO: 1.30%, 1.08%, .41%
MgO: 3.04%, 5.02%, 1.58%
K2O: 2.35%, 3.57%, 3.22%
Na2O: 1.93%, 2.02%, 1.14%
CO2: .05%, .16%, .03%
OH2: 3.70%, 5.80%, 3.76%
100.24, 100.62, 100.21

The article includes a picture of the surface of the hone taken at a depth of 25 feet, and it looks like a dark TOS stone, with much denser speckling.

Kindest regards,
Alex

I read somewhere in an old geological textbook (I'll try to track it down) that the Water of Ayr stone consists of petrified wood.

As is always the case with discussions of "Water of Ayr" stones, it's difficult to tell whether what's being discussed is what we call the Tam O'Shanter.

But it did say these were specifically razor hones, I believe.

And I'll tell you, the cross section of a WOA looks different from the slate hones I'm familiar with (i.e. thuringians and Tams). Unlapped it has an almost spongiform look. Sort of stucco-y.

Teh composition of the Water of Ayr stone is a bit confusing - some sources quote it as being "claystone" - a sedimentary material, distinct from clayshale, and others as a form of shale that has metamorphosed after being baked and hardened. Other sources call it carboniferous shale.

Given the carboniferous deposits and coal-like minerals abounding in the area it seems more likely that it is a metamorphic shale.

I found it. It's from Encyclopaedia Perthensis; or Universal dictionary of the arts, written in 1816. You can get to it through Google Books.

Petrifying waters are numerous in Scotland. The river of Ayr, in Ayrshire, has been long known to possess a strong petrifying power; and the water of Ayr Stones, which are nothing but wood petrified in that river, are universally known, as the best substances for making hones for razors.

This is not meant to contradict Neil, who sounds like he knows more than I do about these stones. I'm just supplying the source for what I posted previously.

I am personally of the opinion that Tam O'Shanters and Water of Ayr stones are totally distinct hones, and that the latter (very dark, without polka-dots etc.) was popular for razors in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This opinion is not based on rigorous or extensive research but only on what I've been able to dig up and read online.

It's a very interesting subject, and worthy of more input. Petrified wood has been used for honing purposes, I believe, so it's feasible - the minerals in the water replace all the organic matter in the wood with mainly silica or quartz, so only a rocky mass remains, although it generally keeps the same shape as the part of the tree that formed it, bark and all in some cases.

An article about Cumnock, down from Mauchline, says that the whole area sits on a bed of coal:

...The parish abounds in limestone, coal, and freestone; and it is also conjectured that ironstone may be found were it sought for. The limestone is of the first quality as a cement, making the best possible binding lime. It is known by the name of Benston lime, and hardens under water into the consistence of stone. Hence, it is highly valuable, and, consequently, much used in the erection of bridges and other buildings that stand under water. It is carried, I believe, to a considerable distance for subaqueous buildings. The direction of the dip is to the south-west. The cover consists of 28 feet of clay and 8 feet of bastard limestone. The strata of limestone are about 7 feet in thickness. The workmen earn about 2s. a day; and the lime is sold at the quarry for 6d. per boll, Winchester measure.

A freestone of very superior kind is found on the banks of the Lugar of a light blue colour, and which takes a very fine polish in the hands of the mason. There is also a beautiful white freestone, which is held in high repute, as making the very best millstones for grinding barley. It has been sent, I am told, even to America for this purpose.

The whole parish may be said to rest on coal; though, in many places, the seams are troubled and unworkable. It is wrought, at present, on the high lands towards the south-west side of the parish. Two beds of trap or whinstone intervene in sinking for the coal; the one is 11 1/2 feet thick, and the other 24 1/2 feet; the former is 8 , and the latter 16 fathoms from the surface. There is a seam of coal, 2 1/2 feet thick, immediately under the lower bed of whinstone. The direction of the dip is to the north-west, and the average thickness of the seam is about 4 feet. The quality of the coal is good, though sometimes a little sulphurous. A man will put out two tons of coal in the day, and will earn from 3s. to 4s. The lordship is a sixth of the gross out-put; and a fifth part of the coal is left for supports. There are few cross dikes. Some years ago, in sinking for coal, near the banks of the Lugar, a bed of marine shells was found, 14 fathoms from the surface, sunk in strong blue blaize. The shells were of the size of muscles, and were of a bluish - grey colour. A petrified shrub was also found in a bed of freestone, about 26 fathoms from the surface...

An article on the Mills of the River Ayr says this about Dalmore:

...Nearly opposite Milton Mill, and connected to it by a suspension footbridge, is Dalmore Mill. A T-shaped two storey stone building, harled and now asbestos-roofed, it retains the decaying skeleton of a wooden low breast paddle wheel with a cast iron axle. It may well be the mill referred to in the New Statistical Account as having been erected for pulverising graphite, which was mined locally. After that scheme was abandoned, the mill was extended and used for carding wool. By 1841, however, it was used only for the dressing of whetstone. (28) On the building is a carved stone depicting a sheaf of corn, and bearing the inscription W. Heron, 1821. This would seem to indicate that the mill was built as a corn mill; the Herons were the proprietors of the lands of Dalmore. Although its origins are obscure, Dalmore Mill has been processing whet-stones for well over a hundred years. The stone occurs locally, and has been formed by the baking of a bed of 'calmy blaes' by sills of dolerite, which have intruded above and below. Originally quarried, the stone is now mined, and cut to size, together with imported stone, in Milton and Dalmore Mills. More than sixty workers are employed, and most of the output is exported...


'Blaes' is shale, 'calmy' or 'caulmy' means argillaceous, so we are talking about an 'argillaceous shale' in this instance (Dalmore) meaning sedimentary deposits that have not undergone metamorphosis (shale will metamorphose into slate, for instance).

The Dalmore works, producing different hones, was taken-over by the Water of Ayr and Tam O'Shanter Hone Works, and are different stones as we know, from the Tams and WoAs - which both used to be called "scotch hone" although very different. A rather large Tam I used to have had clear lines of sedimentation in it, but being different from the WoA this may/may not be pertinent.

Are there any pictures of the hones or hone material?

I hope that the Ratho quarry which is now built ower with climbing centre is not the same as the quarry mentioned above.

Howard, I have a grainy black and white photograph of the Ratho hone's surface, once I figure out how to use my scanner I can try and post a picture, the only other photograph is of one of the authors standing in the middle of the rubbish dump in 1927.

Adrspach, it may very well be the same place. I haven't looked to see what the land is being used for today, seeing as the quarry was abandoned and then transformed into a rubbish dump in the first half of the 19th century, I didn't think that there would be much chance of finding anything there in the present time (unfortunately).

The WOA stone mentioned in this article is what we now call the Tam O Shanter, it is not an actual WOA stone. The results of a series of tests on various hones which I have, included two Tam O Shanters. There petrological type, based on analysis with a swift polarising microscope, was actually hornfels which is a metamorphic type, one being regular hornfels and the other a finer-grained chloritic hornfels. The Water of Ayr hone wasn't included in the tests unfortunately, so I'm not sure what type of rock it is, but this stone is actually obtained from the Meikledale Mine, 1.3 km East of the Dalmore mine, although it is the Water of Ayr & Tam O Shanter Honeworks who actually retail the stone mined there.

Kindest regards,
Alex

An online document, "The History of The Geological Society of Glasgow, 1858 - 1908" has an entry briefly mentioning the Water of Ayr hone-stone bed at Troon, in which it says that the the bed is composed of volcanic dust deposited in the water.

I know the Troon Harbour Sill bed was never exploited commercially, but out of academic interest, does anyone know if the stone was ever extracted to serve the local market?

Kindest regards,
Alex