Professor Patrick Wyse Jackson

Builds on phases 1 and 2

This project continues to build on the work of Stonebuilt Ireland 1 project (2019-20). It will further document quarries, stone types and buildings in Ireland, particularly those in public care, and will enhance the digital delivery of such information through the Geological Survey Ireland and through a dedicated interactive database. It will benefit local communities, conservationists, the extraction sector, and the reserach communities in the sciences and humanities.

Ireland contains a diverse range of rock types that are characterised as igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic origin, which have been utilised for building over the past 2,000 years and more. Until the mid-1900s local stone was generally used for vernacular, public and religious buildings, except where decorative stone had to be imported. Consequently, this has imparted a distinctive regional feel to villages, towns and cities. Dublin is characterised by use of Leinster Granite and imported Portland Stone, Galway through Mississippian limestones, while Cork and Kerry showcase structures built using local sandstone. By documenting sources of stone, and prominent examples of its use (in publicly accessible civic and religious buildings), STONEBUILT IRELAND aims to raise awareness of the regional characteristics of the built environment. The Department of Geology Trinity College Dublin, through collaboration with the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) will provide a country-wide inventory of building stone analogous to those already available in Britain and Northern Ireland. In addition to promoting citizen science and awareness of local materials, the inventory will aid the public in complying with PART IV of the Planning and Development Act 2000, which requires owners to conserve protected structures. It will also assist local authorities in issuing Section 57 Declarations, which outline 'the type of works which it considers would or would not materially affect the character of the structure or any element of the structure'.