AN INTRODUCTION TO YORKSTONE
Yorkstone is one of those quintessential English stones that everyone has heard about but how many people actually know what a very special stone Yorkstone really is? Of all the natural stones quarried in the UK York stone is probably the most versatile. Used for garden patio's. rustic walling, paving, house signs, flooring, headstones, fireplaces and all types of buildings from churches to office blocks. The colour of new Yorkstone can vary quite a bit, but tends to be mainly light grey, buff or gold, but old Yorkstone was commonly available in dark greys and dark browns as well as a beautiful true blue! This variety of colour and hue made Yorkstone the material of choice for fireplace builders in the eighties. As a young man I built hundreds of these fireplaces, sadly out of fashion now of course. The quality of the grain can also vary, from very fine close grained stone to a coarse sandy grain, almost a gritstone texture. This potential variation in colour and grain means that it is wise to buy only Yorkstone that you have seen.
Yorkstone is a sedimentary stone, that is a stone laid down from the sediment of long disappeared lakes and seas. This process means that all sedimentary stone’s are to a greater or lesser degree layered or stratified. The strata on stones such as Portland or Bath stone are deep and each layer or strata can produce a different class of stone some with fine clear stone, some with heavy fossilised shell. However, Yorkstone is laid down in fine layers of just a few millimetres thick per layer. . It is this layering that gives Yorkstone much of its character. The stone is constructed in layers or strata, that often vary in colour or shade that can be seen in the edge of the stone. This forms a relatively dense hardwearing stone with greater tensile strength than many other stone's.
The surface of york stone can be finished in two different ways, either "riven" or "honed. Honed stone also sometimes called polished, can be used on fireplace, hearths flooring and wall cladding. The term "riven" means the finish that naturally occurs when the yorkstone is split along its bed, the finish is rough and grainy. This roughness makes for a slip resistant surface making yorkstone flags an ideal stone for patio's flooring and steps.
The tensile strength and hardwearing attributes of york stone makes Yorkstone very suitable as paving.
Yorkstone paving slabs have an incredible capacity for wear and tear, and today old York paving
originally laid down a hundred or more years ago is a prized and expensive re-claimed commodity.
My personal view is that old reclaimed york is the most beautiful patio stone money can buy, the different colours and the way
the yorkstone has worn over the years give an unmatched feeling of quality and permanance.
Yorkstone is ideal for engraving as it seldom shows sign of the fossil shell that can mar the finish of some other stone's
and the colour generally remains fairly uniform throughout the slab or block though can darken when a new layer or strata is cut through. The density of the grain means that engravings and carvings are crisp and sharp.
This uniformity and consistency is one of the reasons Yorkstone has always been valued for its suitability for engraving.
It has been used for generations for headstones and today is being increasingly chosen for engraved house signs and commemorative plaques.
Yorkstone has other attributes less well known, for instance did you know that it is an excellent fine abrasive? All stone masons yard and workshops used to have a block of Yorkstone and a large hand turned Yorkstone wheel for sharpening chisels. Lubricated with water the stone was often the only sharpening stone available. Another use was to finish off the leaded lettering on headstones. After the lead had been hammered into the finished letters, they were rubbed over with a piece of Yorkstone and water, this smoothed and blackened the lead at the same time.
We live in an age where almost everything is short lived or disposable, the reason I love Yorkstone is its feeling of permanance, its ability to age and weather gracefully. Old Yorkstone headstones, walls and signs hundreds of years old, covered in moss, and the grime of history with the inscriptions all but unreadable are still very beautiful and the quality of the stone still shines through!