Drumhead Quarry, situated a few kilometres north-east of Denny in the Central Belt of Scotland,udis one of several quarries in the Falkirk area which exploited the Cowie Rock, a pale-colouredudsandstone in the Upper Limestone Formation (Clackmannan Group). The quarry suppliedudbuilding stone from the very early 18th century, working fairly consistently until the late 19thudcentury.udHistorical evidence indicates that the stone was primarily used locally in the Falkirk and Stirlingudareas, until the opening of the Union Canal in 1822 which then allowed the sandstone to beudshipped to Glasgow, Linlithgow and Edinburgh, mainly for use as paving stone. Drumheadudsandstone was the first ever shipment along the Union Canal in 1822, landing in Edinburgh. Theudquarry was worked under several different operators throughout the 19th century and often sharedudthe same operator as Thorneydyke Quarry (located c. 600m to the north) in the latter half of theud1800s. It was not uncommon for the quarry to be operated by local builders and architects, whoudwere most likely to use the stone they were extracting from their own quarry as the main sourceudof building material for their designed and built structures.udDrumhead Quarry exposes thick-bedded sandstone with some bedding lamination and wide jointudspacing, well-suited to extracting large blocks. The possibility that a unit of limestone - theudCalmy Limestone - encroaches near to the quarry‘s east and north boundaries (and might limitudthe prospects for future expansion) has been recently tested by drilling boreholes. Limestone wasudnot encountered in the drilling exercise, but units of mudstone and shale interbedded withudsandstone to the east of the quarry indicate a change in the depositional environment of theudsedimentary rocks in this area, and suggest the limestone might be nearby. A borehole to theudnorth of the quarry encountered only sandstone in the bedrock, hence extending the quarry in thisuddirection would appear to offer the best prospect of encountering good reserves of sandstone.udSamples of Drumhead sandstone are quartz-rich, well compacted, and have a strong naturaludmineral cement resulting in a strongly cohesive (difficult to disaggregate) stone. The stone isudtherefore of good quality and likely to be durable. It has the potential to be a versatile buildingudstone, suited to a range of uses including rubble walling, high quality ashlar and carving. Thereudare two main varieties of the sandstone: a buff variety with faint-to-strong bedding lamination,udand an off-white, freestone (uniform) variety. All of these factors will enhance the commercialudviability of the stone.udThe two varieties of Drumhead stone should provide a good substitute for a number ofudsandstones that were formerly sourced and used widely in the Central Belt, but are nowudunavailable. Sandstone of this type is in particular demand in the Stirling, Glasgow andudLinlithgow areas.
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