Lime Working down the Black Cart

As with the Gryfe, the river valley of the Black Cart was a focal point of the search for coal and lime. From the headwaters of the river in Barr Loch, lime works followed the Black Cart downstream.

At Kerse, the lime and coal works were drained by a pump powered firstly by water, then by a steam engine. South of Barr Loch, lime was worked at Netherhouses. At Limekiln Plantation, near Lochwinnoch, lime quarries survive in a series of tiers downhill. From the 1720s, lime was also worked along both sides of Castle Semple Loch and burnt in kilns by the lochside. One of the potential benefits of extending the Paisley Canal to Ardrossan was the lime quarries and mines along the proposed route in the Risk area.

The most intensive working of lime was further downstream, where a great ‘basin’ of lime dipped from Howwood to Spateston. A number of small early quarries led to a large scale combined venture in the 1770s, by Houston of Johnstone and McDowall of Castle Semple, at Meikle Corseford. The quarries were drained by a water powered engine driven by the Spateston Burn. More than 30 clamp kilns survive, surrounding the main quarry. Nearby is the draw kiln at Midtown. By the Victorian period, several large lime works were in operation, connected by tramways to the main railway line.

In the 1720s, several lime quarries preceded the development of the new town of Johnstone. Numerous other quarries and kilns dotted the road to Paisley, from Floors to Newton. Many were developed by Speirs of Elderslie. Near the bottom of the Black Cart in the Linwood area, limestone was mined at various depths in 19th century in conjunction with coal and ironstone.

© 2017 Stuart Nisbet, Renfrewshire Local History Forum