Sandstone

seeing the world in a grain of sand

I've lived on the New Red Sandstone of Dumfriesshire for nearly 30 years. That's the same as a Dumfriesshire midge claiming to have lived on me for exactly three and a half minutes…

From the gravestones of Dumfriesshire to the brownstones of New York, from the tunnels under Nottingham to the stone-built sideboards of Scara Brae: the story of sandstone is the story of the world we live on and, indirectly, of us.

click any picture for gallery

Old Man of Hoy	St Magnus Cathedral, Orkney	fossil fish, Old Red Sandstone	Brecon Beacons
Cove Harbour, Berwickshire	Drumlanrig Castle	Canyonlands, Utah	Devorgilla Bridge, Dumfries
West Cliff, Dorset	Egyptian sculpture	'Chloris Ringstone', Dumfriesshire	Stromness, Orkney
St Bees Head, Cumbria	stromatolite, Stromness shore	fossilised desert floor, Dorset	Heads of Ayr
Crichope Linn, Dumfriesshire	Carboniferous sandstone, Cove Harbour	Scara Brae, Orkney	Crichope Linn, Dumfriesshire
honeycomb erosion, Skye	giant horsetail	St Magnus Cathedral, Orkney	Liathach, Torridon
Liathach, Torridon	arch by Andy Goldsworthy, Benbrack	Roslin Chapel	Hoy, Orkney
	St Magnus Cathedral, Orkney	Ladram Bay, Devon