About
Morrinton Quarry
Quarry Geology
Morrinton (or sometimes “Morrington”) quarry is located approximately 9 miles North West of Dumfries and 2 miles South of Dunscore.
The stone found at Morrinton is a greywacke or gritstone of Silurian age which was deposited circa 440 million years ago in a deep ocean separating America and Scotland in the north (the ancient continent of Laurentia) from England and Wales in the south (Avalonia). As the ocean closed and the continents collided, the rock was tilted vertically, compressed, and heated. At Morrinton, this process has resulted in a rock that is competent, strong, and especially resistant to polishing giving it high skid resistance which is especially important for safety in road surfacing.
To put the age of the rock into perspective, if the age of the Earth were a single day, the rocks at Morrinton were formed at 9:45pm and man first walked the hills around Morrinton at 1 second to midnight. This period of geology was first identified in Wales in 1830 and stone from this period shows the earliest records of vascular plants and bony fish
Quarry History
Morrinton Quarry is steeped in history, operating in the local area for over 100 years. The photo of Morrinton Quarry below is dated from 1906.
Mapping of the quarry suggests that the land began being quarried not long before that date and this coincides with the opening of The Cairn Valley Light Railway in 1905. Construction of the railway used stone from Morrinton and the advent of the nearby railway probably helped the quarry flourish.
It seems to have developed after that and in 1926 quarry proprietor, RA Geddes, is recorded as having found a polished stone mace which he donated to Dumfries Museum where it can still be found today.
Production records show sustained output through the 1930s and by 1942 the quarry bowl was quite well developed and stone was carried from the quarry to the railway using an aerial ropeway, which crossed above the public road.
The business and property (including the quarry workers houses) were put up for sale in 1948 and acquired by Morrinton Quarries Limited. The sale particulars included details of rail facilities, but the line, which had ceased passenger services in 1943, closed to freight only a year after the quarry was sold in 1949.
There are some early mentions of brickworks on the opposite side of the road, and in 1973 the company obtained consent and installed a plant for manufacture of pre-cast concrete products. This ceased some time before 2000. If you have any historical information or pictures relating to the quarry, we would love to hear from you.
Morrinton Quarry today
Tarmac took over the business in 1987 and have operated the quarry ever since then. The asphalt plant was taken over by Aggregate Industries Limited in 2000.
There is also no fixed processing plant on the site. Instead, crushing and screening are undertaken by a low-level mobile crushing plant located in the quarry bowl. This does not normally operate all year round, but produces enough stone for few months sales then moves to another quarry.
About Tarmac
Tarmac, a CRH company, is the UK's leading sustainable building materials and construction solutions business.
With 150 years of experience and heritage to our name, we're a national network of local businesses, combining the knowledge and expertise of two of the construction industry's most iconic brands: Tarmac, pioneers and inventors of the modern road, and Blue Circle, the company that patented Portland Cement.
We employ around 7,000 people across a network of more than 400 sites across the UK
Tarmac is part of CRH, the world's leading building materials business
Health and safety
Our ambition is to realise continuous improvement for all our employees and contractors
This approach to improving safety extends across our supply chain and to every aspect of our business - from the way we manage sites and the way train and equip our employees and contractors - to the safety features we install in our vehicles to protect road users.
We're proud to work with experts in the field of Health and Safety, such as the British Safety Council and The Health and Safety Executive and are also one of the founding partners of a mental health programme for people working in the construction sector called Mates in Mind.
We also have a brand new National Skills and Safety Park - 'The Park' - that is home to operational onboarding, professional operational training, assessments and health and safety learning, demonstrating our commitment to building the right safety culture as well as creating an enhanced experience for employees.