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| IRISH
BLUE LIMESTONE - NATURAL STONE FROM THE HEART OF
NATURE |
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The Origin
of Irish Limestone
The story of Irish Limestone began some 370 million
years ago. At the time Ireland lay under a relatively
shallow and warm sea. This provided ideal conditions
for the precipitation of lime mud, incorporating
clays and sands washed in from nearby landmasses.
Bivalves were the most common fauna in the water.
For much of the following 45 million years the
lime muds continued to form, though there were
numerous variations and temporary breaks in the
process.
About 325 million years ago conditions started
to change. The drainage pattern in the adjacent
landmasses altered and rivers began to carry more
clays and sands into the sea. The accumulation
of calcareous deposits ceased and, as the water
became shallower, tropical forest began to grow
in the area, helping to provide us with our current
cover of vegetation and earth.
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The Origin of
the Irish Limestone Industry
During the Neolithic and Bronze Ages limestone was
used as a construction material. Elaborate burial
cairns, portal dolmens and passage graves made extensive
use of limestone. Complex shapes including circles,
spirals, diamonds, triangles and herringbones were
carved into the limestone by craftsmen, and remain
as examples of an art and craft form of the time.
Early stone masonry probably reached a pinnacle
around 1000 AD with the construction of Round Towers
through the country.
The latter part of the twentieth century has seen
major changes to the extraction of stone, and the
manufacturing and finishing capability of the industry,
due in part to the emergence of diamond technology.
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| Popular surface
finishes applied to limestone include: |
Ground
Flat even surface with fine circular scoring that
may be difficult to identify in some finishes.
Colour: Pale, grey-blue on the coarser grit finishes
but becoming darker where finer grits are used.
Application: Internal and external cladding and
ashlar. Sills, steps, lintels, capping, gravestones
and kerbs. May also be used for internal and exterior
floor tiles.
Machine Chiselled
Flat parallel even tooling tracks separated by narrow
lines of grey split stone. Various pattern densities
are used.
Colour: Pale grey-blue depending on the density
of the tooling.
Application: Ashlar for sills, steps, lintels and
piers. Monuments and grave kerbs. Internal and external
cladding.
Mechanical Old Cut
The surface is covered in closely spaced short irregular
chisel marks.
Colour: Pale Grey-blue with the contrast between
the chisel marks and the rough stone only apparent
at close range.
Application: Floor tiles, setts, pavoirs and kerbs,
where it produces a good non-slip surface.
Hammer Dressed
Surface pattern of irregular spaced circular impact
points, 1-3mm in depth.
Colour: Pale grey-blue with whitish flecks.
Application: Suitable for interior and exterior
work and as a decorative finish or as a non-slip
surface.
Honed
Even matt surface with no tooling marks.
Colour: Dark, blue-grey but will exhibit tone variations
depending on the part of the quarry the stone came
from.
Application: Internal applications such as cladding,
steps, sills and floor tiles. It may also be used
in furniture pedestals, tops for vanity units and
counters.
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