9.3.2 Jericho NJ632332
Jericho
Illus 83
This roof is at Jericho in the Skirts of Foudland, on a building once associated with a whisky distillery but now sadly neglected. At 36 courses the slates may have been of a second or undersized grade, but, in any event, the average Foudland slate is of a reasonable size when compared with the sizes produced in the Lom or Stobo quarries. The main district names used for these Aberdeenshire slates are Gartly, Foudland and Tillymorgan. Although roofing slates are likely to have been available from early times, the main growth in quarrying started in the early 18th century. By 1770, Lom slates were competing, particularly in areas nearer the coast. The advent of the slate tax (1794 - 1831) brought back prosperity to the quarries although they were always worked individually with no real effort to industrialise production. By 1860, there was some difficulty in letting the Aberdeenshire quarries due to competition from Lorn and Welsh slates. By the end of the 19th century, all the quarries had closed and Welsh slates had taken over the Aberdeenshire market.