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Find information about your local stones using the author or county lists

New Hereford City Centre Trail

Technical publications

Downloads
 

McCall J. 

2011 English Stone Forum 21pp

Full text version  CPD version

If you're looking for up-to-date advice see Stone Federation GB publications or Stone standards and guidance

Now available at £8.00 plus £2.00 postage and packing. Cheques payable to the National Stone Centre. 

Copies are also available in the libraries of universities and colleges which run building conservation courses and in the British Library and the other legal deposit libraries (Bodleian Oxford, Cambridge University, Trinity College Dublin, National libraries of Wales and Scotland).

The English Stone Forum
The papers presented at the 2005 conference on England's stone built heritage covering the historic use of stone, conservation practice, supply of stone, and planning issues associated with the use of indigenous stone.
 

Published in 2004 this report reviewed the state of supply and demand for building stone and the planning environment in which it operated. It recommended:

• revisions to minerals planning policy
• designations of heritage quarries
• creation of a national database of building and roofing stones including their 
• Description
• Suitability
• Existing sources
• Extent of unworked resources
• Constraints on production and
• Importance

Study of the social and economic impacts and benefits of traditional farm building and drystone wall repairs in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. 

• The grant schemes have played a very important role in preserving the barn and wall landscapes that define the character of such a large part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The survey of agreement holders found that without this injection of funding over three quarters of the traditional farm buildings (76%) would have become derelict through lack of maintenance.
• The survey also found that much of the drystone wall restoration work would not have been undertaken if the grant-aid had not been available. 
• It is estimated that in the absence of the schemes over 350 traditional farm buildings would have become derelict.

Study of the social and economic impacts and benefits of traditional farm building and repair and reuse in the ESA.

• Businesses working on grant funded restorations tend to be small, locally

based and often family run. They will also tend to predominantly employ
local people, and support traditional local skills. A large share of any indirect
and induced expenditure will therefore remain in the local economy.

Comprehensive guidance on assessing existing stone in historic buildings, the technical criteria for selecting replacement stone for repairs and obtaining supplies.

Obtainable from English Heritage, Customer Services, PO Box 569, Swindon SN2 2YP 0870 429 6658. Ask for product code 51024.

Available here as a .pdf download. Can be purchased from The Stationery Office, PO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GN. Order through the Parliamentary Hotline: 0845 7023 474, fax: 0870 600 5533, textphone 0870 240 3701, email: book.orders@tso.co.uk or visit www.tsoshop.co.uk to buy online.

Natural Stone Specialist is the UK’s only magazine dedicated to the natural stone industry. Published monthly, each issue features some of the most interesting projects in stone, both new build and conservation, including the views of architects and designers, clients, and the masonry companies involved.

• Building types Building materials and their conservation 
• Recent case studies 
• Developments in specific construction techniques 
• Research results from key investigations

Links to stone articles

• Air/Water Abrasive Cleaning of Stone and Brickwork - Nicola Ashurst 
• Building stones of the United Kingdom - Frank Dimes
• New Stone for Old - Jamie Vans
• Poultices - Catherine Woolfitt
• Recent Developments in Laser Cleaning - Martin Cooper
• Rock of Ages - Ewan Hyslop, Graham Lott
• The Search for Stone - Graham Lott
• Shining Stones - Graham Lott and David Smith (pdf)
• Soluble Salts in Masonry - Catherine Woolfitt
• Sourcing Stone for Building Conservation - Terry Hughes
• Stone Cleaning - Ingval Maxwell
• Stone Consolidation - Elizabeth Garrod
• Stone Replacement - Malcolm Coulson
• Sundials - Christopher Daniel
• What Lies Beneath - George Ballard 

The geology, sources and use of sandstones and limestones for roofing in England. 

Saving England's stone slate roofs

Stone roofing in England

Sourcing new stone slates and re-roofing the nave of Pitchford church

These two short films demonstrating the slating of Collyweston amd Swithland slate roofs are part of English Heritage's series of practical advice on maintenance and repair.

The Stone Roof Working Group's guide to making a mineral planning application for a small quarry or delph. Before you can open a quarry or delph you must obtain planning permission from the local council. This can appear to be more difficult than it really is, so don't be put off. Help and support are available from many organisations and if the various steps are approached methodically with a clear plan of action in mind you will find that the process is straightforward. 

This guide sets out the stages in preparing an application and where to go for help and advice. Every council will have a Local Plan that is intended to ensure that the market for stone products can be satisfied without unacceptable consequences. So if there is a demand for the products then the mineral planning process will normally support its supply. It applies equally to small building stone quarry applications.

It can be obtained from the Institute of Historic Building Conservation at admin@ihbc.org.uk free of charge or downloaded here (pdf). Be sure to include your name, delivery address and phone number in the email. 

IHBC, Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury SP3 6HA. 01747 873133

The extraordinary richness of England’s built heritage is a reminder of our ingenuity in response to our surroundings and their particular environmental and geographical characteristics. The roofs and walls of historic buildings are clues to the geology of the surrounding landscape, and demonstrate the skill by which the local population used available resources to provide shelter thereby developing the vernacular or traditional local buildings we now cherish. 

The 2009 edition has been revised and updated to include the latest experience of mortar used in the single lap system.

Free download here.

Free download here.
 

Stone consolidants - Brethane

Lime treatments

Lime method evaluation

Sacrificial graffiti barriers

Soft wall capping experiments

Conserving fractured and detaching stone tracery

Stone repair of a cracked column at the Wellington arch

Using the practice guideDownload pdf

This new Stone Federation GB publication includes stone, brick, terracotta, concrete and faïence. It is currently being offered at a special introductory price of £30.00 (£15.00 for Stone Federation members) including postage and packing (postal charge for overseas).

BGS Building Stones website
Introduction to Mineral Planning
Mineral Planning Factsheet Building Stone
Mineral Commodity Profiles Building Stone