Comrie slate quarries, Highland Border slate belt, Scotland

From: Richey, J.E. and Anderson, J.G.C. 1944. Scottish slates. Wartime pamphlet No. 40. London : Geological Survey of Great Britain.

Comrie: Aberuchil Quarry

Map of Highland Border slate belt. P519823.

Maps

Sheet 47 Crieff. 1:63,350 geological map

Six inches to the mile: Perth, Sheet 106 N.W.

Locality	4 ml. W.S.W. of Comrie
Access	There is a fairly good road as far as Aberuchil House, and from there a rough road to Tomanor (2¼ ml. W.S.W. of Comrie), from which a very rough service road continues for 2¾ ml. to the quarry.
Description of slate	Colour mainly greyish-green, but sometimes blue or purple; surface even, slightly rough; texture medium, but greyish-green variety is often slightly sandy; striping due to bedding frequently present; pyrites practically absent. Thin quartz-chlorite veins in places.
Dips, with amounts	Cleavage-dip, N. 25º W. at 60º. Bedding-dip mainly in same direction at lower ale (mostly about 45º) but variable at S.E. corner of quarry due to presence of small overfolds with steep limbs on S.S.E. sides of anticlines.
Joints	The slates are traversed by numerous, fairly widely spaced joints which follow a variety of directions, none of which appears to be dominant.

Details of workings

The quarry is situated high up on the E. side of a deep valley followed by the Allt Glas, which crosses the slate belt. The main opening is about 50 yds. long and 50 yds. across with a face up to 50 ft. high. A smaller working at a lower level occurs on the N.W. side. There is no overburden of drift deposits, but the slate is weathered to a depth of about 6 ft.

Reserves

There are abundant reserves along the cleavage strike to E.N.E.