Kemnay Granite

Kemnay Granite was sourced from at least twelve quarries, including two main clusters of quarries beside the towns of Kemnay and Kintore, in Aberdeenshire. The stone comes from the Kemnay Granite Pluton, which formed during the Ordovician Period (c. 475 million years ago) when Scotland was south of the Equator at roughly the same latitude as southern Angola is today. Kemnay Granite was used locally, regionally and nationally, mainly to form masonry and paving. More recently, Kemnay Granite was used for cladding the new Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh. Kemnay Granite is not quarried for building stone today.

Building Stone ID 10,164

Geological description

Rock category  
Igneous rock
Stone type  
Granite / Granitic-rock
Source bedrock unit  
Kemnay Granite Pluton
Colour  
Light pinkish grey to greyish pink and medium grey to light grey
Grain-size  
Coarse crystalline (2 to 16 mm)
Cohesion  
Strongly cohesive
Water absorption  
Very low
Key constituents  
Muscovite
Texture  
Tectonically foliated

Historic significance

Maximum historical geographic reach  
National (score = 3)
Extent of historic building stone quarrying  
Extensive (score = 3)
Historic significance score  
Highly significant (score = 6)

Related records


close large map