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. We want 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.

Significant funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund means that the project is now underway and we are looking for people to become involved in uncovering and telling this story and recording it for the future.

We want 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 us by email or phone or find us on twitter.

If you have already expressed an interest in being part of the project or being kept informed of progress, we will be writing to you very shortly.

Web: www.buildingstones.org.uk

Email: building.stones@worc.ac.uk