Tarradale Quarry & Tarradale Stone

Attribution: unknown or not recorded

The advent of the Ross-shire Railway created a stir and bustle to the local community with predictions of the ‘bleak and sterile moor becoming the site of a thriving village with its shops and storehouses’. By 1862, the railway traffic was increasing daily both in goods and passengers and several houses were springing up with and Inverness Builder and quarryman erecting a handsome cottage (possibly Caberfeidh) and was also contracted to build up to another three. The stone coming from the Tarradale Quarry of which he was the lessee.
Tarradale stone was very much in demand and was used to build many of the structures we recognise today. In 1854, the stone was use to build a bridge in Inverness, Beaufort Castle and Cameron Barracks, to name but a few. In 1854, the lessee was a Mr MacKenzie of Findon, who hindered the building of the Inverness bridge in a dispute over costs. A solution was reached when the lease term expired and the bridge builders took on the lease. Could this have been when Mr Donald MacDonald of Tomnahurich Street took on the lease?
The quarry was situated on the North side of the main road to Tore, as we know it today, beyond the entrance to Hughston. It is not know for how long the quarry had been active, however a joint excursion of the Inverness Scientific Society and Field Club and the Ross-shire Field Naturalist’s Society, in 1880 reported that is had been worked for ‘a considerable time back’ and that the railway yard was always bury with wagons of stone being loaded for their various destinations. An 1860 advert refers to the quarry as being “well-known and excellent” and an advert of 1855 states it was the best stone in Ross-hire.
Mr D. MacDonald held the lease until 1865 when Mr John Mackenzie of Balvattie Farm took on the lease. It is entirely likely that he employed Mr William MacKenzie as he was recorded as the tenant on the 1885 valuation roll and was recorded as the quarrymaster in 1891. A newspaper report from 1910 also suggests that a Mr MacKenzie of Balvattie farm held the lease of Tarradale quarry, suggesting this MacKenzie branch could be related to William MacKenzie. (see entry 13. for Caberfeidh)
Looking down the Muir of Ord main Street today, it is apparent that most of the older buildings were certainly built of Tarradale Stone. With several buildings having the names of the families, who either built them or owned them first. ( see Robertson, MacKintosh, McKenzie, Logan, Forbes and MacLennan buildings). Other areas where the stone was used are Dingwall, Conon Bridge, Beauly and Inverness.
William MacKenzie died in 1903 and there is not much known about the workings of the quarry after that until the boom of the 1950’s when the Hydro-Electric Board boosted the industry in its building of massive structures throughout the Highlands. Duncan Logan (Builders) Ltd were the main contractors for the works and employed fifty men in their quarrying and stone building branch. Sadly, by 1960 the quarry had been running at a loss for several years and was almost closed.

Page created on 24 July 2024

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