5000 year old kitchen cupboard at Skara Brae, Orkney, Scotland.
For someone raised on the Canadian prairies where any structure over a hundred years old is a marvel and wood has been the typical building material, the stone buildings of other countries, many of them several hundred years old, are quite enchanting. Over the centuries, stone has been used to construct streets, bridges, fences, monuments, churches, castles, public buildings and ordinary homes. Here are a few examples of stone construction works from my recent travels in England, Scotland and Ireland.
Stirling Bridge over River Forth, Stirling, Scotland.
Cobblestone lane and stone wall in Stirling.
St. Winwaloe, the Church of the Storms in rural Cornwall, England.
Medieval construction mastery - scissor arches in Wells Cathedral, England.
Carrickfergus Castle, on Belfast Lough, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Presently inhabited home in Stromness, Orkney, Scotland.
What about furniture, building interiors and furnishings? I have seen stone benches and some churches have stone baptismal fonts. Fireplaces have traditionally been made of stone.
Stone bench at Eden Project, Cornwall, England.
Marble fireplace at Kylemore Abbey, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland.
If you think granite counter tops are something new (we had marble when we lived in the United Arab Emirates), check out the kitchen storage unit from the 5000 year old Skara Brae archaeological site in Orkney, Scotland. These people were so cool they even had stone beds.
Home at Skara Brae with kitchen storage and, at right and left sides, the beds.
The Stone Age may have ended when metal tools became available but stone continues to play an important and beautiful role in our construction efforts. I am glad though that we have progressed in bed technology.