Scone Sandstone
Scone Sandstone was sourced from numerous quarries situated within a swathe of ground between the towns of Bridge of Allan (Stirlingshire) and Stonehaven (Kincardineshire). The stone consisted originally of sand that was deposited by rivers during the early part of the Devonian Period (c. 400 million years ago), when Scotland was south of the Equator at roughly the same latitude as northern Angola is today. Scone Sandstone was probably used locally, mainly for masonry but also paving and millstones. Scone Sandstone is not quarried for building stone today.
Building Stone ID 10,080
Geological description
- Rock category
- Sedimentary rock
- Stone type
- Sandstone
- Source bedrock unit
- Scone Sandstone Formation
- Colour
- Light purplish brown and medium grey to medium purplish grey
- Grain sorting
- Moderately-sorted to moderately well-sorted
- Grain-size
- Fine sand (0.125 to 0.25 mm) to medium sand (0.25 to 0.5 mm)
- Cohesion
- Strongly cohesive
- Water absorption
- Low to moderate
- Fabric
- Uniform (some orientated grains) to occasional lamination
- Distinctive features
- None
Historic significance
- Maximum historical geographic reach
- Local (score = 1)
- Extent of historic building stone quarrying
- Most extensive (score = 4)
- Historic significance score
- Highly significant (score = 5)
Related records
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