The Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust has recently begun an important new project looking at the use of natural stone in historic and heritage buildings across the two counties.
A Thousand Years of Building with Stone has had the go ahead from the Heritage Lottery Fund and has successfully recruited three permanent staff who are now getting stuck into the challenge ahead.
The nature and history of the rocks below our feet not only shapes the distinct regional landscape we see around us but also influences what can grow, where settlements are established and what we build. From cottages to castles and from bridges to barns the stone built heritage of the region has, through the ages, represented an important link between the largely hidden world beneath our feet and our everyday lives.
However much of the awareness and knowledge of our stone built heritage has been forgotten or lost over time. This places many buildings, central to the particular character of our towns and villages, at risk. The Trust wants to delve into the history and stories surrounding our stone-built heritage, reuniting important – though not necessarily grand – stone structures with the lost quarries from which the material was won and reasserting the importance of such buildings in our local heritage.
The Trust is now looking for people to become involved in uncovering and telling this story and recording it for the future. They wish to train volunteers to understand stone and record its uses in buildings, to search records, to uncover the stories of local people who worked with stone and to discover our lost quarries. If you are interested and wish to find out more about the project please contact the project team by email or phone or find them on twitter.
Web: lostquarries.wordpress.com
Email: building.stones@worc.ac.uk
Twitter: @BuildingStones
