From the Black Mountain

Today's the day . . . . . .  . . . . . to make lime

This is the impressive view northwards from the Black Mountain in Carmarthenshire.  Looking the other way there's a different story going on.

For hundreds years the limestone in this hillside was quarried away and burnt in kilns to produce lime (or calch) for use as an agricultural fertiliser, in the building trade for plaster and mortar, and in many industrial processes such as iron production.  Once quarried from the hillside the limestone then had to be burnt in a kiln to produce quicklime, a very useful but very corrosive and dangerous substance.  

For hundreds of years local farmers from both sides of the mountain would travel to the quarries with their horse and cart in the spring to extract and burn the limestone, and then transport the quicklime back to their farms to put to good use.  Over time the production of lime from the quarries grew and grew, and eventually it was exploited on a commercial scale.  

The quarry closed and production ceased in the 1950s .. . . . . . . . .