Welsh Stone Forum

The Welsh Stone Forum was founded in 2003 to promote awareness and knowledge of the use of natural stone in Wales. Its meetings enable members to exchange knowledge. The forum holds field meetings to study buildings and their constituent stone, providing an informal opportunity to discuss architecture, conservation and planning.

Membership of the forum is open to all. Many of its members work in conservation, heritage, planning, geology, architecture and masonry.

The forum is supported by Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, Natural Resources Wales and Cadw.

Click here to download the membership application form.


HiPoints collection

Rhoscolyn - 'Mona Marble' was quarried for decorative uses, including a table for Napoleon's house on St Helena
Penmon - stone used for Caernarfon Castle, Menai Suspension Bridge, Dublin quays. Some polished as 'Anglesey Marble'
Aberdaron - journalists founded a short-lived co-operative quarry firm, hoping to improve workers’ lives
Aberdaron - remnants can be seen on the beach of a pier and mill, both built for the Pompren barytes mine
Aberdaron - large blocks of jasper were quarried at Mynydd Carreg. Some adorns a Piccadilly, London, frontage
Uwchmynydd - limestone was quarried on Mynydd Mawr up until the First World War
Pwllheli - former Tabernacle chapel was made with volcanic rock from a quarry at the mouth of Pwllheli harbour
Llanberis - managers used explosives several times on a dolerite pinnacle in Dinorwig slate quarry but failed to remove it
Deganwy - All Saints' Church was the first new-build using Gloddaeth Purple Sandstone for 500 years
Aberarth - large volumes of freestone arrived here by sea for construction of Strata Florida Abbey
Barry - 'black marble' from base of Bull Cliff was used for memorials, including one for a 124-year-old woman
Penarth alabaster mine site - the decorative rock was used for 17th-century tomb chests in Margam Abbey church
St Nicholas - the tomb of wealthy John and Anna Cory is made of Triassic limestone from Quarella, Bridgend
Camarthenshire mason's former home - Tom Morris may have coined the name 'Snowdrop Marble' for a local stone
St Davids - the picrite boulder at Porthlysgi is named on OS maps and travelled far in the Ice Age
St Davids - the coast path passes remains of copper mine, worked until a fatal accident in the shaft in 1883
Pendine - Eglwys Gymyn church contains an Ogham-inscribed stone. Cross by W Clarke of Llandaff in churchyard
Swansea - Mumbles Marble was polished and washed at West Cross in the early 19th century
Llantwit Major war memorial - made of stone from Derbyshire
Llanharan war memorial - made of Portland Stone from Dorset
Wenvoe war memorial - partially sculpted while the limestone was still at The Alps quarry in 1919
Machynlleth war memorial - features Aberdeen granite and a Draycott stone used for Wells Cathedral columns
Builth Wells war memorial - combines local stone with Portland (Dorset) and Doulting (Somerset)
Wales Coast Path monuments, Chepstow - one is made of Halkyn Marble, from Flintshire
Pyle, Bridgend - pulpit made largely of Penarth alabaster commemorates a man killed in RAF service in November 1918
Cowbridge - church reredos includes Penarth alabaster, as may the 17th-century Carne memorial
Cardiff - streets around Plasturton Gardens are paved with 'Shamrock stone' from Ireland
Cardiff - Cornerstone building, a former chapel, features rocks which arrived as ships' ballast
Cardiff - Penarth alabaster features in Mabel Gwladys St Mawr's memorial in Radyr parish church