Economic use

Lime Kiln at Great TossonMany of the thicker limestone units have been quarried at least on a small scale, and burnt to provide local supplies of quicklime and slaked lime for use as a soil improver. Remnants of the former small quarries and limekilns can still be seen marking the outcrop of the limestones. None of the limestones are worked today.

Many of the thicker and more robust sandstones have also been quarried throughout the district for building stones, but are no longer worked. Although these have been dominantly for local use, some quarries such as those at Greenlaw and Glanton Pike are known to have exported stone as far as Carlisle, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Under present, or currently foreseeable, economic conditions it is unlikely that these rocks will attract significant commercial interest. Small scale reworking of some historic quarries may occur for matching stone in older buildings.