Building Stones in Youghal

Liscannor stone paving

Having inspected the old Cork Red marble quarries at Midleton, the next site on my list of building stone quarries to survey was in the town of Kilkenny – a drive of 120 km – and the only reason for stopping in Youghal was that the light was fading and I needed to find a place to eat and sleep.

The Clock Gate Tower

Before setting off the next day, I took a few photographs of a couple of buildings that had caught my eye, on the previous evening.

The Clock Gate Tower is quite stunning and I was particularly interested in the contrasting building stones that have been used in its construction; reflecting the local geology and the relative structural integrity of these rocks, Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous limestone are used for the walls and dressings respectively.

An unknown classical building behind it, near to where I was parked, also uses the same combination of materials, and this gives the architecture a locally distinctive character. 

Sandstone and Limestone

In England, the Carboniferous sandstones have been exploited for their durability as a building stone and they have also been extensively used to pave cities and towns all over the country.

Devonian Old Red Sandstone

Unless you are working as a town planner, architect or a contractor in a conservation area with listed buildings, where the paving gives great character to the place, it is very unlikely that you will ever pay much attention to this – except, perhaps, when wearing stiletto heels.

In Ireland, the Liscannor stone is unmissable, not least for the preservation of the burrows made by ancient organisms.

Quarried from the Upper Carboniferous rocks in Co. Clare, very near to the Cliffs of Moher, I don’t quite know how to classify this stone - like the Devonian Caithness Flagstone, which is very fine grained and so hard and dense that it reminds me of slate, although obviously a sedimentary rock.

Having once surveyed and photographed the old riven stone flooring in the Leather Bottle public house - mentioned in The Pickwick Papers - before it was replaced, I know that old, worn out paving stones are a real hazard to walk on. Modern Health & Safety policy in England would no doubt have something to say about the use of Liscannor stone for any kind of paving but, in Ireland, it is just part of character of the country...

Liscannor Stone