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rivulets, &c., as well as in the forming of rollers, and malting,salting, and pig-troughs. It is also an article of commerceto different parts. It is supposed to be exactly of the samenature with the original granite ; and there are five sorts ofit, which are distinguished by their colours, the white, thedusky or dove-coloured, the yellow, the red, and the black,most of which are charged with a brown and bright silverymatter.
The county of Inverness has a great deal of this sort ofstone, and there are numerous quarries for raising and work-ing it. The common granite abounds in all the differentdistricts of it. In many places, the whole rocks are composedof this kind, which is uncommonly useful for all ordinarypurposes. By natural fissures, which run in straight lines,and generally at right angles, it is formed into all-sized por-tions and shapes, having uniformly a plain surface ; and, bymeans of cutters or transverse lines, these stones are easilyquarried, and found in the greatest plenty everywhere. Theyare remarkably beautiful, being almost as smooth and regu-lar as hewn stone, and, of course, well suited for various; sorts of building-work. The best buildings of the county-town are of a dark kind of granite, which is very hard anddurable, but which has few or no fissures. It is generallyfound in large blocks ; and in many of these parts, there isno other material for building or adding ornament with.The manner of giving it the polish it admits of, at the quar-ries, is by means of small picks, or pick-axes, which are, infact, hammers with sharp points at each end, in the mannerof those employed by millers in preparing their grinding-! stones. It is a very heavy, compact stone. There is amixed sort, denominated peasy granite, which consists ofj white, black, and gray spots, that sparkle beautifully in the| sun, is very ornamental, and much used for different purposes,i as stairs, doors, and windows. Though this is very solid,and almost without natural fissures, it splits very straight, bymeans of iron wedges, set in a line, and struck alternatelywith a hammer of great power.
A great deal of this kind of stone is imported into the*metropolis, and other large towns, for paving the streets, &c.It is, on the whole, a very advantageous sort of quarry mate-rial in various parts of the kingdom.
Quarries of freestone are wrought in a great number ofdifferent places. In the more southern parts is found thePortland-stone, which is so famous and useful in building.A sort of this kind of stone, which much approaches to itin quality, is also met with in Cornwall . Some likewiseexists in Devonshire and Gloucestershire . The Cotswoldquarries, in the latter, afford freestone of an excellent quality,particularly those at Painswick, Lodbury, Lockhampton-hill,&c. It abounds more, however, in Cheshire, Lancashire ,Westmoreland, Cumberland, and some of the still morenorthern districts. Several excellent quarries of freestoneare carried on in the first of these, as those at Runcorn ,Manley, 8tc., where much valuable stone of this nature isi raised. The second county also affords equally valuablequarries in many different places, from which vast quantitiesof the stone are raised, and employed, or sent away to a dis-tance. Those about Ormskirk, Up-Holland, and Wigan , aswell as those on all the eastern side, are in general of a verygood quality ; and in the vicinity of Lancaster there aresome excellent ones ; that on the moor, or common, close tothe town, is very extensive, and affords a freestone thatadmits of a fine polish. In this district, this sort of stone ismet with, of a whitish-brown, yellowish, and reddish cast,but the first is by much the most esteemed. In the easternparts of Westmoreland, as about Hutton Roofe, and someother places, a good sort of freestone is dug up from pits
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and quarries formed for raising it. This sort of st° n , er iaD^and is quarried almost all over, the counties of C®and Northumberland ; and prevails occasionallywhere it is wrought to advantage. A grit-stone,of this nature, is met with in some districts, as in&c., which is raised from quarries, and used a® ® te ntmaterial. And a sandstone exists to considerableothers, as in Sussex, &c., that is sometimes duS qJI th emade use of for common buildings, &c. In Chess ' ’ jgton 6hills near Macclesfield , about Kerridge, a sortis met with, which is particularly well suited to t t0 tb eof flags, and whetting tools, as well as sometno®^pj 0 ye“'forming of slates, for which it was formerly m uc1 ' j ( tb" 1Near Pott-Shrigley, also, a fine sandstone is ° eve r, b eeBadmits of a good polish. The quarry has not,wrought for some late years, as, from the extrein o cr abl eof the stone, the expense of getting it is very cod ^ ge9 toflCThere are several other quarries of excellenwrought in the same neighbourhood.
There has been great abundance of freestone ^ oUn tyfrom time immemorial, in the low parts of the^ gto riePerth , and quarries of a greater or smaller S rain ce ptio D 0this sort appear almost in every place, with the e s® 9 'the Carses. In the Lowlands, and near to the e n)0U nti>' athe pores and grain of it are coarser j but as 111 . g ne r, ware approached, the pores are less, and the £ r ,pj,e q" a ? 9which these stones admit of a smoother polish- _ to ne o*of Tullyalan parish, called Long-annat, affords a of ^very excellent quality. It is of a white colou r >^ g w ead>e -smooth polish, and resists the influence of
Biuoom uoiiau, u.iu reams me - ntr y,
Some of the principal houses in that part of the count / fJjewell as some of the most magnificent public buildmg 9 . ye rcapital of Edinburgh , as those of the Exchange, the V ^dsity, and the Register-office, consist partly of this sto*those found at hand. And farther, in some inbeen carried to the continent. But the quarry tb lS
in the Carse of Gowrie, is unquestionably the fi neS .kind of any in the country. Astonishing blocks, jjinumbers, are raised there, fifty feet in length, sixtee n dbreadth, and three feet in thickness. Such is th i3 «rtor this stone, both at home and abroad, that four
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all sorts of flaffs „ ^ uairies {or the working and prep bet efree-stone is ffunrl & ”? et witil in alJ those situation® ^or layers, of some a' a ”n wh ? re exists in rather t! ‘“f nnri itedby hammers wcl ° Pt l ’ are capable of being * e P jothe southern’Dirt i° r . ot!ier means. In many P ‘ g[lC bfreestone auntr; ° t Je isJan ff> the flags raised fr ^ 0 gused in verv In 68 afe an extremely good qua 1 ,osey large quantities for various purposes. , a
■Devonshire also, in many cases, . 0
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good sort of flags. The sandstone quarriesat Grinsell, near Shrewsbury, about .. 1 ° n the j-e 1Corndon-hill, near Bishop’s-Castle, as we wh' te ,^ r kn esS ’mountain, &c., where alternate beds ot th* -><
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natur thck ’ aff ords fhZ these situations, being »•,hZ e - Free «one tf kew ‘ sa which are of a very
abni e $ Uarr *us of 8n t00} useful sorts , are j e y
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tricfJ y orJ; sfiir e , an , ; y 0 tlie freestone quarries of j; s .The° f tUe COu «try d S0 “ e of the other more northed
the whkZgl'ay 'fjf kiml become slate-stone, %finra V^ ers ’o/st r J br °r sl *te, wherever the
ed from each otT ’ W “ eh are able to be raised & d f^10tLer with convenience and facile