Natural walling stone - creating harmony

Have a look at a traditional market town, a traditional country house, a stone cottage, a drystone wall, a boundary wall with cock and hens, they all have something in common.    They are settled in the landscape, they are structures that are changing the landscape, and environment, and yet are of the landscape and environment.

Yes, the proportions are probably correct, and yes hedges and trees have grown up to further fold them into the environment, however one of the main factors for them being harmonious with the environment is the use of natural materials, such as thatch, roofing stone, walling stone, ashlar, flint, and timber.

At the Quarry we produce walling stone that is cropped and dressed into drystone walling, garden walling, building stone, facing stone, and even roofing stone.

Our stone is called Forest Marble.  ‘Marble’ because it is a very hard limestone that is resistant to water and frost, and ‘Forest’ because it has occasional wood fragments embedded within it when it first comes out of the ground. This Forest Marble stone is made up of crushed shells from the Jurassic period some 140 million years ago.  The effect is that the stone has a rich mottled buff/brown/grey colour to it. 

The beauty of the walling stone is that it has so many purposes.  The building stone for the house, the garden walling for smaller garden features, the drystone walling for the large boundary walls, and the facing stone for the retaining walls and the garden rooms with backing blocks.  The stone house, stone barns, stone garden rooms, stone sheds, stone stables, drystone walls, garden walls are all unified, bound to each other, and the earth through the different grades of walling stone.  Our stone is from the earth’s bedrock, our building stone, drystone walling and facing stone in the house, barn, shed, and garden walls are bound together, and with the earth.   It looks sublime in combination.

When we first opened some 25 years ago, the projects using natural stone were modest, mainly extensions, and small garden walls emulating the existing style of the surroundings.  However, in the last ten years, the projects have become adventurous, bold and outstanding.  There is a renaissance in building with suitable natural materials that can add strength, beauty, and comfort to any building project.