Lime was increasingly used during the post-medieval period – both for buildings and in agriculture. During the period of agricultural improvement, considerable quantities of lime were employed to improve the quality of acid soil. By the end of the 18th century, lime kilns were a common feature in Perth and Kinross; at least 352 lime kilns are noted in the region’s Historic Environment Record. However, it is likely that the familiar stone-arched draw kilns have been noted to a greater extent than the, perhaps equally productive, temporary clamp kilns (Bishop et al 2017). There is a particular concentration of lime kilns in the north of the region, especially around Kirkmichael, Pitlochry, Aberfeldy, and Bridge of Tilt (Mitchell 2020, 99–100). Several of these kilns supplied lime for communities some distance away, a process that was facilitated by improvements in transport during the late 18th century (Mitchell 2020, 141–2). Further study of the wider economic and transport networks associated with lime kilns might be of interest. There has been increasing recognition in recent years of the importance of lime kilns for 18th- and 19th-century agriculture, but much more work on their typology and dating in Perth and Kinross would be desirable.
No fewer than 339 stone quarries are recorded in the Historic Environment Record for Perth and Kinross. These provided a range of materials, including sandstone (at least 24 quarries), limestone (at least 16 quarries) and slate (at least four quarries). Most of these sites have received very little physical or desk-based investigation and have not been securely dated. Analysis of the materials used in standing buildings could perhaps provide some insights into the history of quarrying in the region (Gauldie 1981). Yet stone from Perth and Kinross was not simply used for local construction work. In the 1790s it was remarked that the quarry at Kingoodie sent ‘considerable quantities’ of stone to England and had recently provided materials for the construction of canals near Ipswich and in Essex (Anonymous 1797, 464). Further interdisciplinary research into mining and quarrying in Perth and Kinross would be highly desirable, and should draw on the Building Stone Database for Scotland, a joint project by Historic Environment Scotland and the British Geological Society.