Hi Jody, There were several quarries around the area. See the Gazetteer for Scotland with details of Craignair granite quarry at Dalbeattie. http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/towns/townfirst348.html Hence most of the buildings, walls and gravestones in Dalbeattie and Castle Douglas are granite! Most of those in Dumfries are red sandstone from Locharbriggs. Cheers, Kenny Freecen coordinator for Kirkcudbrightshire -----Original Message----- From: dumfries-galloway-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:dumfries-galloway-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of jody allen Sent: 02 February 2010 04:38 To: D&G Mailing List Subject: [DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY] Stone masons Can anyone share with me what a stone mason's day might be like in the early 1800's in Galloway? My 3xgrandfather was a stone mason and I would like to know what he did. Were there any large construction going on in the 1820-1840's in Kirkcudbright, Drumfries or Wigtown that would need a lot of stone masons? I am hoping to find some records of the work he did but need to know other than doing headstones what a stone mason might have done. Also interested what a joiner would do? Were they basically independent and were hired for jobs or did they work for a "union" and were called to work on jobs. I am just looking for sources of information in other sources rather than the Vital Statistics and kirk session records. Jody -- Jody Allen, Scottish Scribbles Blog http://scottishscribbles.blogspot.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Researching: Scotland: Wallace, Mctaggart, Clarke, Mckean(d), McCartney, Stewart Ireland: Lynch, Drought Wales: Williams, Walsh ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2662 - Release Date: 02/01/10 12:37:00