The Building Site
Stone
There are often good reasons for using local materials and some new developments are taking care to enrich buildings and settlements using the variety offered by the compressed spectrum of England's geology. They add more than meets the eye. Stone, taken from small quarries nearby, is quickly colonised by local species of lichen and moss offering yet more footholds for nature. Carrying on a culture of stone winning, the knowledge of building with particular stone maintains pride in place and work, and supports both local economy and society. The impact of building demand is experienced locally and questions of real necessity faced. All of these intensify local distinctiveness.
The Blackdowns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty web-pages demonstrate this in action.
See also the Chilterns Conservation Board's Building Design Guide for Chiltern Flint : you can download an excellent set of supplementary technical notes from their web-site
Find out about building with chalk
on the Horse Path
Pictures:
Top: Medmenham church (Berkshire) & Berrynarbour (Devon)
Bottom: Kempley (Gloucestershire) & ?
Photos by Common Ground
