Liddle's Quarry, Orkney : a resource evaluation and assessment of past and possible future uses of extracted stone

This report describes the outcomes of a project to evaluate the stone resource at Liddle’s Quarry, near Stromness on Orkney (Mainland), and to assess past and possible future uses of the quarried stone in the Orkney Islands. The client, Historic Scotland, has been asked by Orkney Islands Council to support it in its research into the continued feasibility of Liddle’s Quarry. The main street and side streets of Stromness were originally paved using natural stone flags, setts and kerbs in the mid 19th century. The paving imparts considerable character and charm to the town, but its condition and aesthetic quality had suffered as a consequence of the physical impact of vehicles and piecemeal replacement over the years by natural stone from other sources and by concrete slabs. Sections of the paved carriageway in Stromness were identified for renewal as part of the Stromness Townscape Heritage Initiative. An investigation by the British Geological Survey in 2008-9 (Tracey et al., 2012) confirmed that Liddle’s Quarry, some seven kilometres south-east of Stromness, was the source of the original paving stone, and concluded that the stone still exposed in the disused quarry would be suitable for the planned re-paving work. Orkney Islands Council subsequently granted planning permission to re-open the quarry, and in 2010 Orkney Aggregates Ltd began to extract new stone. Since then, newly extracted stone has been processed at Heddle Quarry, near Finstown in the centre of Mainland, and used in the ongoing project to repave parts of Stromness.