YORKSTONE NAME CARRY AMBIG

Author: STC
Article Date: 05.12.2014

Yorkstone: The name sounds simple and famous, yet it is so elective. It considered as one of the best and popular among paving stones. Why called Yorkstone, nobody neither knows nor claims for it. There is no actual defination of Yorkstone. There is no-one to defend the name. The name simply exist is the minds of those who use the term. It is firmly embedded in the British psyche as the prime paving stone. It is one of the most widely known and recognisable of all British stones. Ambiguities surround Yorkstone. There are references to Yorkshire stone, Yorkshire gritstone, York flagstone and some other variations, but origin of these names not clear. They have been widely used as a name for any buff, grey and blue sandstone from Northern England, prepared as slabs for external paving. With the ambiguity surrounding the name Yorkstone this is hightime to determine if there is such a thing as Yorkstone and define. The present belief is that the first stone classed as Yorkstone were from Elland Edge, a geographical feature above the town of Elland in West Yorkshire. As per the local records Elland Edge was quarried from atleast the early 17the Centuries to produce stone for masonry, roofing and paving. There are local structures that prove the stone from Elland Edge was certainly used in medieval times. The inference from this is that York in Yorkstone in a contraction of Yorkshire and that this term is too generic for use in today's enlightened times of CE marking and British standards. So it can simply be concluded that what everyone has been recognising as Yorkstone is buff sandstone used for paving. Sometimes the material is available in red, pink, blue and grey hues. Sometimes the colours are more dominant than the background buff colour and often there is presence of silvery flashes, which are Coystal flakes of mica. This flakes gave rise to the team flaggy The geological findings also make it apparent that material described as Yorkstone might actually originate from Derbyshire, Northumberland, Lancashire and County Durham, as well as Yorkshire. What many people are actually recognizing in Yorkstone are the persistent features of the underlying geological formations that provide these stones. We actually find all stones that fit the perceived Yorkstone description are from two very district geological sequences Millstone Grit and Coal Measures. There are almost 60 sandstone varieties currently quarried in UK from the Millstone Grit and Coal Measures sequences.