Buildings and building blocks

One of the things which might strike you as you travel during the holidays is that building stone varies from place to place. People, (especially in the past when carrying large amounts of stone would have been difficult), used local stone for their homes, churches and other buildings. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the Cotswolds where I have spent some of the past week.

The Cotswolds are comprised of Jurassic rocks, mainly limestones, which have been used as building stone for many of the lovely villages in the area. This photo shows an outcrop of the limestone on the western edge of the Cotswolds near to Cheltenham. The area is known as Cleve Hill and at 330m is the highest point in southern England!



The local stone has been used to make the characteristic honey coloured buildings which typify the Cotswolds such as these at Lower Slaughter and Chipping Campden.