Category:Lime Kilns

Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia

With the exception of a few relatively small coastal areas which have been overblown by shell sand, the vast majority of Shetland's soil is acidic, and does not support productive agricultural crops and grasses well. To achieve greater yields of better quality crops and grasses to feed both themselves and their livestock, that was only possible on more ph neutral soil, crofters and farmers began to apply high alkaline dressings to their land. Limestone and shell sand being the two most readily available locally. Limestone could be applied in two ways, either simply the limestone rock ground down in to a fine grit, or as 'Burnt Lime', the residue which was left after the limestone rock had been exposed to fire. Burnt Lime was probably the most popular, as it was of a considerably more concentrated alkaline, it was of much less bulk and weight to transport and spread. The demand for burnt lime led to the construction of many drystone limekilns. Peat was used as fuel for the kilns, and the limestone was chopped up to small pieces before it was burnt. Some of those old kilns still exist.
Lime was also used in the building trade. In Girlsta, a large lime kiln was built in 1872 to provide the ongoing building projects in Lerwick with lime.