Selecting the Stones - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 164

6. Selecting the Stones
If ever you find yourself in a strange town and there's a
quarrymasters' convention going on, try to gatecrash it: they're
such great people.
- John Braithwaite
The next task was to find suitable stones, not so easy to come
by in the twentieth century. We began by consulting Mr. McK-
enzie of the Department of Architecture and Related Services,
who started us on a prolonged odyssey around quarries in the west
of Scotland, with telephone inquiries going much further afield.
Though the quarrymasters could not have been more coopera-
tive, the problem was that almost all modern quarries used gelig-
nite, which brings down the rock in very small pieces suitable for
motorway construction and the like. Gavin's artist's impression
had confirmed my view that we wanted stones to stand 4-5 ft 6 in.
above ground - comparable, say, with some of the ancient stones
on the island of Colonsay (Fig. 4.23 ). To bring down rock in pieces
of that size would require slower burning explosive, probably black
powder. We had the off-duty advice of the late LAEM David Proffitt
of HMS Gannet, the anti-submarine and air-sea rescue helicopter
squadron at Prestwick Airport. David was trained in black powder
blasting and would have been prepared (given official permission)
to do the job for us, but we still had to find a suitable quarry.
As John Braithwaite said, the quarrymasters were wonderful.
One of our first visits was to a quarry near Dumbarton, and after
we left, John said, “Do you notice how everyone is captivated by it?
When we walked in he was prepared to dismiss us as a pair of nut
cases, and now though he can't help us, he's going to find someone
who can.” At another, we were given the run of the quarry on the
off chance that we might find stones big enough, “But we'll be
blasting at noon, wherever you are.” At a limestone quarry near
Dunlop, not far from the Thoms, they would happily provide large