Building stone

Historically, our building stone was supplied for houses, and walls throughout Wessex (Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire), and upto the Cotswolds (Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire), due to its durability, versatility, and attractiveness.  Many of the most idyllic towns and villages in the west country country have roofs, and walls made from our type of hard building stone in the past 500 years.  

Our traditional building stone is ideal for creating a harmonious, idyllic look, integrating the house, garden, and natural surroundings.  It is therefore ideal for new builds, and houses that need to blend in with the countryside - the country house look, at minimal cost.

For new builds, using our natural building stone adds beauty, style, and value.   It will help to create a timeless aesthetic, that will always be desired.  We see this with traditional stone houses and cottages around the country, they are highly prized.  It should be noted that the proportions, styling, and the setting also need to be right - as always. 

Our stone is called Forest Marble.  Today there are only a few quarries remaining quarrying Forest Marble building stone.

Call the Quarry on 01963 364200 to discuss your project.

Our building stone is cropped, and hand dressed by our masons into coursed, as well as random walling, producing traditional stonework that has a rich mottled buff, grey, and brown colour, that will help settle the building into the landscape.   There are quoins, and jumpers within each load of stone.

In the past, the walls were solid stone, letting damp, and cold to penetrate.  Today our stone is cropped to 6 inches on bed for ordinary building stone, or 7 inch on bed for the thinner height stone.  This cropping allows for cavity wall insultation to be put in place, with our stone, and the backing block providing protection, and stability.

The building stone is supplied either loose, or in bags as required.  Normally the coursed building stone is sold as a random mix with jumpers included.  However depending on what is needed, we can do special orders.  

The stone is so hard, and non-porous so that it can go below damp course, or be in exposed places.  It will stand the test of time physically, as well as making a statement through the generations.

These are some of the towns and villages that were close to Forest Marble outcrops and quarries.  Therefore if you are building with stone in these towns and villages, our stone will probably be a good match:

Bridport, Broadwindsor, Axmouth, West Bay, Maiden Newton, Evershot, Yetminster, Holnest, Henstridge, Stourton Caundle, Bishops Caundle, Sherborne, Yeovil, Henstridge, Horsington, North Cheriton, Bruton, Wincanton, Gillingham, Sturminster Newton, Frome, Trowbridge, Westbury, Bradford-on-Avon, Chippenham, Corsham, Swindon, Melksham, Malmesbury, Cirencester, Burford, Tetbury, Sherston, Chipping Sodbury, and Bath.