Corsehill Quarry

Overview

A red sandstone quarry north of Annan in Dumfriesshire, worked from the 1880s in the water-laid Triassic sandstone that took the name Corsehill stone. Fine-grained and able to hold a sharp edge, it went by rail to Glasgow, Edinburgh and London and across the Atlantic, into the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Liverpool Street Station and the Million Dollar Staircase of the New York State Capitol. The quarry closed after the Second World War and was reopened in the early 1980s, since when its stone has been cut for restoration and new building, from Newcastle Crown Courts to the Lockerbie memorial cairn at Arlington.

History

Corsehill lies a few miles north of Annan, on the Triassic red sandstone that runs through Annandale. Sandstone was quarried in the district through the nineteenth century, and Historic Environment Scotland records Corsehill as a nineteenth-century sandstone quarry; the British Geological Survey dates its working from the 1880s, the decade in which Corsehill stone first appeared in Edinburgh, at No. 70 Princes Street in 1886 and, on a large scale, in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery of 1885 to 1890. The quarry stood on both sides of the Solway Junction Railway and was served by sidings reached by a reversing spur from the south; stone went out by rail, some of it over the Solway viaduct from Kirtlebridge to the ports of Silloth and Maryport for shipment. At the peak of the Dumfriesshire sandstone trade in the late nineteenth century the district's quarries were sending out almost 200,000 tons a year, and Corsehill's share went into Glasgow and Edinburgh tenements and churches, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Roseburn Primary School in Edinburgh, the pedestal of the Duke of Wellington's monument and Liverpool Street Station in London, and the Million Dollar Staircase of the New York State Capitol. The quarrymen lived in Annan, Brydekirk and Creca and walked to work, and dust was the trade's hazard: many grew large moustaches in the belief that they filtered it. The Solway Junction line closed north of the viaduct in 1931 and south of it in 1951, and the quarry itself closed in 1946 according to the Annan historians, or in the mid-1950s according to the British Geological Survey. It was reopened in 1981 or 1982 by Onyx Contractors, who also work Corncockle, to supply stone for particular projects: repairs to the Portrait Gallery and to the King's Theatre in Edinburgh, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in 1995, Newcastle Crown Courts in 1998, a palace in Oman, and the cairn of Lockerbie red sandstone raised at Arlington National Cemetery to the victims of Pan Am Flight 103.

Geology

Corsehill stone is a warm red, fine-grained, slightly micaceous sandstone of the Triassic St Bees Sandstone. Unlike the wind-blown dune sandstones of Locharbriggs, Corncockle and the other Dumfries quarries it is water-laid: the beds are thinner but laterally continuous, with small-scale cross-bedding. Being fine-grained and able to carry a sharp arris it was used for carving, monuments, panels, quoins and plinths as well as walling, and the stone from the reopened quarry has shown excellent resistance to weathering. A 1937 photograph shows the sandstone beds capped by boulder clay.

Workings

An open quarry with faces on both sides of the Solway Junction Railway, its sidings reached by a reversing spur from the south; a Geological Survey photograph shows cranes loading dressed blocks onto rail trucks. The reopened quarry is worked intermittently for specific orders.

Closure

Closed in 1946 according to the Annan historians, in the mid-1950s according to the British Geological Survey, after the railway that served it had closed to the north in 1931 and to the south in 1951. Reopened in 1981 or 1982 by Onyx Contractors and worked since for particular projects.

What remains

A reopened working quarry, operated on an intermittent basis for specific projects; Corsehill stone is marketed by Dunhouse, Hutton Stone and Cumbrian Stone for new building and restoration.

The quarry faces on either side of the former Solway Junction Railway; the sidings and reversing spur belong to a line closed in 1931 and 1951.

Related mines

• Corncockle Quarry — Both reopened quarries are worked by Onyx Contractors on an intermittent basis for specific projects, according to the British Geological Survey.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Triassic red sandstone (St Bees Sandstone) was worked at Corsehill from the 1880s until the mid-1950s; the quarry was reopened in 1981 and is operated by Onyx Contractors. (disputed) ¹
• The quarry closed in 1946 and was reopened in 1982. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Triassic red sandstone (St Bees Sandstone) was worked at Corsehill from the 1880s until the mid-1950s; the quarry was reopened in 1981 and is operated by Onyx Contractors. (disputed) ¹
• The quarry closed in 1946 and was reopened in 1982. (disputed) ²
• Corsehill was served by sidings from the Solway Junction Railway, the quarry lying on both sides of the line and reached by a reversing spur from the south; stone was shipped from Kirtlebridge over the viaduct to Silloth and Maryport. The line closed to the north in 1931 and to the south in 1951. ²
• Corsehill stone was supplied for the original pedestal of the Duke of Wellington's monument, Liverpool Street Station, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Million Dollar Staircase of the New York State Capitol, and more recently for Newcastle Crown Courts (1998), Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (1995) and a palace in Oman. ^2,3
• Corsehill is a warm red, fine-grained, slightly micaceous, water-laid sandstone with thin but laterally continuous beds, used for carving, monuments, quoins and plinths; it appeared in Edinburgh at 70 Princes Street (1886), the National Portrait Gallery (1885-90), the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (1892) and Roseburn Primary School (1893). ¹
• Historic Environment Scotland records Corsehill as a nineteenth-century sandstone quarry centred at NY 2050 7010 in Annan parish. ⁴
• The quarry workers lived in Annan, Brydekirk and Creca and walked to work; dust was a major hazard and many grew large moustaches in the belief that these filtered it. ²
• Blocks of red sandstone from Corsehill Quarry were used to build the Lockerbie bombing cairn at Arlington National Cemetery, called for by a United States Senate resolution of November 1993. ⁵
• A Geological Survey photograph shows cranes loading sandstone onto rail trucks at the quarry, and a 1937 photograph shows the Triassic sandstone beds capped by boulder clay. ^6,7

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Building stones in Edinburgh from the Permian and Triassic New Red Sandstone of Dumfries and Galloway and Cumbria — British Geological Survey
2. (secondary) Prosperous Annan: Industries — Annan the History Town
3. (secondary) Corsehill: fine grained pink / red sandstone — Dunhouse Natural Stone
4. (primary) Corsehill Quarry (Canmore 81438) — Historic Environment Scotland
5. (secondary) Corsehill (stone) — Wikipedia
6. (secondary) Corsehill Quarry, Annan (Geological Survey photograph) — Future Museum, Dumfries and Galloway Council
7. (secondary) Corsehill Quarry, north of Annan: Triassic sandstone, boulder clay above (1937 photograph) — Future Museum, Dumfries and Galloway Council

Record created: 23 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026