Plate XVII.
GILMERTON QUARRY.
ALTHOUGH there is nothing, that will
particularly interest the antiquary in scenes of this nature, yet
the
admirers of the picturesque and the artist are highly gratified by
the investigation. It is a view in a lime-
quarry at Gilmerton, near Edinburgh; and is thus described in
"Remarks on local Manners and Scenery in
Scotland." "This quarry is formed by a vast shelving stratum of
lime-stone, which, rising to the surface
of the ground, admits of an easy entrance, and, extending above a
mile in length, forms a succession of
caverns, supported by numerous massy pillars. The light, admitted
by the winding entrances, is soon
broken among the stony masses, and dies away in the distant
recesses, or is faintly reflected by the pools
of water, which are formed in the bottom of the quarry." The place
too has an animation not very fre-
quent in such places, from the number of persons occupied in hewing
out the lime-stone, breaking it into
smaller pieces, loading, and driving the carts, horses, and asses.
Besides those, who are employed in car-
rying out the produce, there are nearly forty persons engaged in
the quarry, which yields about seventy
thousand bolls of lime annually. This view was made in
1799.