Stone Library

54 natural stones from Ireland, the UK and the United States. What each one is, what it is like to build with, and who works it.

Stones of Ireland and the UK

Quarried across the island of Ireland and Great Britain, and mostly sold within it.

Wicklow Granite natural stoneFeatured

Co. Wicklow, Ireland

Wicklow Granite

The stone that built Dublin, silver-grey granite from the Garden of Ireland

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Donegal Quartzite natural stoneFeatured

Donegal, Ireland

Donegal Quartzite

Silver-white metamorphic stone from the wild Atlantic coast

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Bath Stone natural stoneFeatured

Somerset & Wiltshire, England

Bath Stone

England's golden limestone, quarried underground and the stone Georgian Bath is built from

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Kilkenny Blue Limestone natural stoneFeatured

Kilkenny, Ireland

Kilkenny Blue Limestone

Quarried mid-grey, polished blue-black: Ireland's dark interior limestone

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Connemara Marble natural stoneFeatured

Co. Galway, Ireland

Connemara Marble

Ireland's only true marble, ancient green stone from the wild heart of Connemara

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Liscannor Stone natural stoneFeatured

Co. Clare, Ireland

Liscannor Stone

Fossil wave ripples on every split face, quarried from the beds that form the Cliffs of Moher

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Welsh Slate natural stoneFeatured

Gwynedd, North Wales

Welsh Slate

The slate that roofed a nation, fine-grained, durable, and unmistakably Welsh

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Portland Stone natural stoneFeatured

Isle of Portland, Dorset, England

Portland Stone

The stone of Wren's London, a creamy white limestone that weathers lighter rather than darker

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Pennant Stone natural stone

South Wales

Pennant Stone

South Wales' hard grey sandstone, the stone that built the valleys and still paves their streets

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Beer Stone natural stone

Beer, Devon, England

Beer Stone

Devon's soft white stone, fine-grained, easily carved, and the carved interior of Exeter Cathedral

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Clipsham Stone natural stone

Rutland, England

Clipsham Stone

Rutland's golden oolitic limestone, the stone chosen to restore the Houses of Parliament and countless English country houses

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Forest of Dean Stone natural stone

Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England

Forest of Dean Stone

Gloucestershire's Pennant sandstone, one of the darkest natural sandstones quarried in England

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Irish Limestone natural stone

Ireland

Irish Limestone

The bedrock of Irish architecture, warm grey limestone quarried across the island for over a thousand years

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Irish Basalt natural stone

Co. Antrim & Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland

Irish Basalt

Near-black volcanic rock from the Antrim plateau, the hardest-wearing stone on the island

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Aberdeen Granite natural stone

Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Aberdeen Granite

The granite Aberdeen is built from, silver-grey with a mica sparkle that catches the light

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Dunhouse Buff natural stone

County Durham, England

Dunhouse Buff

Durham's warm buff sandstone, even enough in colour to match across a whole ashlar elevation

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Yorkstone natural stone

West Yorkshire & South Yorkshire, England

Yorkstone

Britain's most widely used paving stone, a warm gritty sandstone with natural grip in the wet

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Irish Granite natural stone

Wicklow & Donegal, Ireland

Irish Granite

Speckled grey and pink hard stone from the Wicklow and Donegal plutons

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Kentish Ragstone natural stone

Kent, England

Kentish Ragstone

Kent's grey-green sandstone, quarried for the Roman wall of London and still the county's walling stone

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Blue Limestone natural stone

Ireland & Belgium

Blue Limestone

Irish and Belgian dark grey limestone that reads blue once honed, dense enough to take a polish

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Hopton Wood Stone natural stone

Derbyshire, England

Hopton Wood Stone

The English limestone that takes a true polish, cut for cathedral interiors and war graves

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Ancaster Stone natural stone

Lincolnshire, England

Ancaster Stone

Lincolnshire's golden limestone: a warm, durable freestone with a 2,000-year history in the English heartlands

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Cornish Granite natural stone

Cornwall, England

Cornish Granite

The stone of Land's End, a rugged, warm-toned granite shaped by Atlantic weather and deep Cornish identity

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Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, India

Indian Sandstone

The stone that paved modern Britain: cheap, calibrated, and worth asking questions about

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Yorkstone Reclaimed natural stone

Yorkshire, England

Yorkstone Reclaimed

Centuries of character, warm golden sandstone from England's North

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Cotswold Stone natural stone

Cotswolds, England

Cotswold Stone

Honey-gold oolitic limestone, and the stone Cotswold planning authorities require inside conservation areas

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Caithness Stone natural stone

Caithness, Scotland

Caithness Stone

Scotland's ancient flagstone, silver-grey Old Red Sandstone flags from the far north

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Cumbrian Green Slate natural stone

Cumbria, England

Cumbrian Green Slate

Lake District green stone, metamorphosed volcanic ash rather than mud, which is where the green comes from

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Mourne Granite natural stone

Co. Down, Northern Ireland

Mourne Granite

Northern Ireland's mountain granite, silver-grey and cooler in tone than Wicklow

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Purbeck Stone natural stone

Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England

Purbeck Stone

Dorset's ancient limestone: England's most historically significant freestone, quarried since Roman times

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Stones of the United States

Quarried across the US, from Pennsylvania bluestone to Texas Lueders limestone.

Cumberland Plateau, Eastern Tennessee, USA

Tennessee Crab Orchard Sandstone

The Cumberland Plateau's tan-and-gold flagstone, the Southeast's default native stone

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Sullivan, Delaware, Greene & Ulster counties, southern Catskills, New York, USA

New York Bluestone

The Catskill side of the bluestone belt: same formation as Pennsylvania bluestone

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Portland, Middlesex County, Connecticut, USA (Hartford Basin)

Connecticut Brownstone

Portland Brownstone, the red sandstone of pre-1900 New York and Boston rowhouses

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Northeastern Pennsylvania & Catskills, USA

Pennsylvania Bluestone

Devonian-age sandstone from the Catskill belt, the Northeast US default flagstone

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Lawrence & Monroe counties, south-central Indiana, USA

Indiana Limestone

The dimension stone of American civic architecture: Salem Formation, Bedford-Bloomington belt

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Shackelford & Throckmorton counties, Texas, USA

Texas Lueders Limestone

Cream and pearl limestone from the Lueders Formation: Texas native dimension stone

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Rutland County, Vermont (with Washington County, NY across the state line)

Vermont Slate

The US slate belt: unfading greens, purples, and grays from the Taconic mountains

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Coconino & Yavapai counties, Arizona, USA

Arizona Flagstone

Red, gold, and buff Permian sandstone from the Coconino Plateau, the Southwest US default flagstone

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Madera & Fresno counties, central California, USA (Sierra Nevada foothills)

California Sierra White Granite

From the Sierra Nevada Batholith, the domestic California granite alternative to imported slab

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Pickens County, north Georgia, USA (Tate, Marble Hill, Jasper area)

Georgia Marble

The Pickens County belt: pink Etowah, white Georgia, and the dominant US monumental stone

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Rutland County, Vermont, USA (Proctor, Danby, West Rutland, Brandon belt)

Vermont Marble

Danby and Imperial, the domestic US white marble, from a single underground quarry in Rutland County

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Knox and Blount Counties, East Tennessee, USA

Tennessee Pink Marble

The rose-colored stone of Washington's monuments, and not geologically a marble at all

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Mitchell, Yancey & McDowell counties, western North Carolina, USA (Spruce Pine Mining District)

North Carolina Mica Schist

Spruce Pine mica schist, the Appalachians shimmering metamorphic building stone

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West Texas, north-central Texas and the Austin area, USA

Texas Limestone

Not one stone but three quarrying belts, and the strongest is over three times the weakest

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Waukesha County, southeastern Wisconsin, USA

Lannon Stone

The buff stone Milwaukee is built from, and a dolomite rather than the limestone it gets called

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Dorset Mountain, Danby, Rutland County, Vermont, USA

Danby Marble

Cut a mile and a half inside a Vermont mountain, and thin enough at Yale to glow

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Kasota and Mankato, southern Minnesota, USA

Kasota Stone

Minnesota's buff and pink dolomite, sold as limestone, and now worked by a single quarrier

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Marble, Crystal River Valley, Gunnison County, Colorado, USA

Yule Marble

The 99.5% pure white marble of the Lincoln Memorial, quarried underground at 9,000 feet

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Berea, Amherst and Vermilion, northern Ohio, USA

Berea Sandstone

The stone that built Cleveland and became the oil industry's laboratory yardstick

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Branford, New Haven County, Connecticut, USA

Stony Creek Granite

The pink stone under the Statue of Liberty, and geologically a gneiss rather than a granite

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Sold in both markets

Traded internationally, or a whole category rather than one quarry, so you will find these on both sides of the Atlantic.

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