Memorials Gallery
Hand carved memorials carved in slate, limestone and sandstone. These memorials are all individually designed following close consultation with my clients, and carved by hand. I use British stone where possible such as Welsh and Westmorland slate, sandstone from Yorkshire and Scotland, limestone from Dorset or Ireland.Slate
Slate is a wonderful material for really fine carving as it is very close-grained. Design-wise this makes it good for when there is a lot of lettering on a smaller stone for example. Slate weathers really well as it is practically impervious and weather resistant, which increases the longevity of the memorial. I only use British slates from Cumbria and Wales and always avoid inferior imported slate.
Sandstone
There are many different sandstones to be found in Britain, and they can be very different in colour and texture. York stone for example is generally a grey-brown colour, Scottish sandstone such as Locharbriggs sandstone or St Bees can have a quite pinky-red hue, whereas Clashach sandstone from Elgin is more golden brown. Caithness sandstone from Wick on the north coast of Scotland, often also referred to as a slate, mudstone or flagstone, is more like a dark slate in appearance, anywhere from black to orangey-grey. Sandstone weathers well as it contains a lot of very hard (sparkly) silica.
Limestone
There are many limestones to be found in Britain, and they can be very different in colour and texture as with sandstone. The main limestones I use are Portland stone, Kilkenny Irish limestone, Hornton stone, Purbeck stone and Hopton Wood stone (sometimes Nabresina limestone is used as a Hopton Wood stone replacement as it is similar and Hopton Wood stone can be hard to obtain in large pieces) Portland stone - probably the softest stone I use - was used for the War Graves often seen in churchyards, it is pale oatmeal in colour. Kilkenny limestone is black when polished, and will fade to a mid grey outside. It is beautiful and full of fossils. Hornton stone is a wonderful earthy greeny-blue colour, quite mottled in texture. Purbeck stone varies a lot with various "marbles" and limestone variants, the best Purbeck stone for memorials in terms of weathering and availability is probably Pond Free stone, it is basically oatmealy/buff coloured. There are other stones that can be used such as the Lincolnshire limestones, Cotswold stone and Bath stone and they are softer and more suited to bold simple carvings due to weathering.
