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Egryn Stone A Forgotten Welsh Freestone
Egryn Stone A Forgotten Welsh Freestone
Egryn Stone A Forgotten Welsh Freestone
Page 1 of 11
by Tim Palmer
Honorary Research Associate UW Aberystwyth and NMGW Cardiff
INTRODUCTION
In traditional masonry building, different types of stone with different properties were used for walling
and for the dressings around openings. Throughout Wales, from medieval times till into the 20th
century, vernacular buildings largely obtained their walling stone from local sources, and this material
was usually only roughly dressed before use. Where a more precise geometry was required, however,
or where carvability was important, many of these local stones were unsuitable, either because of their
hardness and poor workability, or because they exhibited a cleavage (planes of weakness defined by
geological structure) along which they could fracture and fail. Thus for window and door dressings,
string courses, columns, ribs, ashlar, carved embellishments etc, freestone (which carves readily and
has similar properties in all three dimensions) had to be obtained. That this was a widely understood
problem can be seen in nearly all of the surviving stone buildings of medieval age. Castles, abbeys
and churches from early times invariably show freestone dressings that have quite different properties
and origins from the stone used in the walling, and the fact that the dressings have often been removed
from ruined buildings, frequently for reuse, further demonstrates the value of this material.
In important medieval buildings in Wales, freestone was often brought in from many miles distant, at
what must have been a substantial cost. For example, Aberystwyth Castle (built in the 1280s)
imported freestone from Bristol 1 . The few remaining in situ fragments show that this was Dundry
Stone (a Middle Jurassic limestone) from Dundry Hill, 4 miles south of the city. Dundry Stone was
also used in large amounts in Whitland Abbey, Strata Florida Abbey, Haverfordwest Priory and St
David’s Cathedral 2 – to name just a few examples. Another source of freestone used in Cistercian
projects of the 12th and 13th centuries was Triassic Grinshill Sandstone from north of Shrewsbury
(used at Abbey Cwmhir, for example 3 ). Other sandstones of less certain identity are often met, and
current studies by members of the Welsh Stone Forum are trying to reveal a better understanding of
their characteristic lithologies and provenance. Doubtless the high cost of transporting good quality
freestone, particularly to western Wales, sometimes encouraged medieval masons to used poorer
substitutes that were closer to hand. The well-known liver-coloured Caerbwdy Sandstone was used in
Pembrokeshire (St David’s Cathedral 4 for example) even though its tendency to cleave reduces its
suitability for external work.
FREESTONE IN MEIRIONNYDD
In Meirionnydd, there is widespread evidence from existing buildings of a highly characteristic and
extensively-used sandstone freestone that was used from the 12th century until the early 19th century.
Its lithology is readily distinguishable from the bulk of ‘ordinary’ sandstones (such as those of early
Carboniferous age that were extracted from both side of the Menai Straits for building Caernarfon
Castle and other medieval buildings in Gwynedd, or those various stones of later Carboniferous age
that are seen in northeast Wales) and it is easy to recognise in even small pieces, or when mixed with
other stones. It has come to be known amongst architectural geologists as Egryn Stone or Egryn
Freestone because of the medieval quarry site above Ceunant Egryn (SH 609207) that is described
below, though it was probably quarried at several sites within the belt of land that runs between
Barmouth and Harlech. Architectural historians in West Wales have not, apparently, hitherto
recognised this as a characteristic building stone with a long-ranging local use, and have not
specifically identified it in descriptions. It is, however, recognised by many of the inhabitants of the
region, and known from dressings and chimneys in many of the older houses.
Egryn Stone. Page 2 of 11
Particularly characteristic of this stone are a variety of petrographic features that attest to a geological
history of structural modification under strain. The rock shows a slight cleavage, more obvious in
some pieces than others (pieces with well-developed cleavage would presumably have been rejected
by the quarrymen as displaying insufficient freestone characteristics). In thin-section, this cleavage is
reflected in distortion of the constituent quartz grains, so that they are slightly elongated parallel to it.
The sediment grains lie in a matrix of greenish to brownish clay minerals. The overall colour of the
rock is buff, sometimes rusty, and very occasionally blue-grey; locally it exhibits bands and swirls of
differential darker colouration as a result of staining by iron oxides and hydroxides (Figure 1). Where
this darker brown staining is not present, the faint greenish tinge imparted to the stone from the clay
minerals just starts to show through. In some pieces, the iron discolouration is in the form of spots a
few millimetres across, which seem to represent decay of minute iron sulphide concentrations that are
scattered throughout the rock.
Fig. 1. South doorway into Llanaber church (SH 599180), built of Egryn Stone and showing its
typical colour variation.
Further evidence of the burial history of the rock, seen in many blocks, comes from the presence of
joints and veins that cut sharply across the fabric, and which become particularly prominent and
obvious in some weathered pieces. These dislocations may be picked out by thin lines of black
manganese staining, which have become more evident by growth of small dendrites from the crack
Egryn Stone. Page 3 of 11
itself into the adjacent rock. Some cracks grade into thin quartzite veins (Figure 2) which may also
show evidence of manganese staining. The largest of these veins may be several millimetres wide.
Fig. 2. Egryn Stone jamb of west window, Llanddwywe church (SH 586223) showing typical rust
spotting and quartz vein.
No individual stone is likely to show more than a couple of the features outlined above, but the
lithology, the cleavage, the colour, the pattern of iron staining and the veining together provide a
unique combination that is not seen in any other freestone in Britain. Consequently, small individual
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pieces of Egryn Stone are unequivocally recognisable, even when met as isolated fragments some
distance away from their source area.
Fig. 3. Map of Ordnance Survey 1 km squares SH 5920 (eastern side) and SH 6020. A =
position of the medieval quarry face, now covered by slipped material; B = position of ramp
leading from quarry floor to inferred crossing point over stream; C = trackway along which the
stone is thought to have been taken out downhill. The complex of pits and spoil-tips marked
‘Egryn Quarry’ is the 19th century slate workings. Modified from OS map 6” = 1 mile, revision of
1899-1900 edition, additions 1949, published 1954. Sheet XXXII, s.w.
The bluff of gritty sandstone has irregular grassy piles of stone rubble at its foot which appear to be
overgrown waste tips from earlier quarrying. Extending inland from it, for a distance of nearly 300
metres, is a sharp break in the natural slope of the ground. This break turns sharply through 90
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degrees at its eastern end and continues, tapering northwards towards the Egryn stream. This large
feature is best seen on aerial photos, particularly those taken in low southerly light. It is not a natural
feature; rather it appears to be an extensive, low quarry face that has become covered by gradual
collapse and by slippage of material over it from the higher ground to the south. Its position is marked
(A) on Figure 3, but it is most clearly seen from the air, as shown in Figures 4 and 5a. Although the
position of the quarry face is clear, its horizontal extent is more uncertain. To the north of the face
(immediately north of the kinked wall that is seen in Figure 5) is an area that shows several
archaeological structures represented by mounds and ridges. Possibly some of these could be the
remains of structures associated with medieval activity, but others are thought to be older. In
particular, the structure labelled H in Figure 5b has the appearance of a late prehistoric round house
settlement 7 , and there appear to be traces of cultivation ridges between some of the larger features. In
the absence of further evidence as to what all these structures represent, and to what extent they
predate or are contemporaneous with quarrying activity, it seems safest to infer that the quarry floor
originally extended northwards for 20 – 30 metres from the final position of the working face, and
possibly a bit more.
Fig. 4. Oblique aerial view of Egryn quarry site looking south southwest. Quarry face is the
marked slope just beyond the kinked wall. © Crown copyright: Royal Commission on the
Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.
Egryn Stone. Page 6 of 11
Fig. 5 a (above) and b (below). The Egryn quarry site, Ceunant Egryn (SH 609206). 5a, Vertical
aerial photograph enlargement illuminated in low sun from the south (towards top of page); ©
Crown copyright: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. 5b,
interpretation of archaeological features on 5a between the quarry face and the stream. Hachures
= quarry face now covered by slipped material from upslope; dashed lines = post-medieval walls;
dotted lines = cultivation ridges; H = possible late prehistoric round house settlement.
Only one other site is known where a similar stone to that from Egryn was quarried, at Byrdir (SH
596243), 3.5 km north-northwest of the Egryn quarry, where sites of stone extraction are still visible
on both sides of the stream. The more southerly site is very overgrown and slipped, but that on the to
the north is further from the stream and has the exposed faces of a quarry that may last have been
worked as late as the 19th or early 20th century. Local opinion reports a belief that this was the site that
supplied the mullions at Cors-y-Gedol Hall (where various phases of building took place from 16th to
19th C), as well as chimneys for local houses.
The sandstones of the stratigraphic unit known to geologists as the Rhinog Grits underlie a belt of
country just over a kilometre wide that runs northwards from Barmouth to Harlech 9 . Much of this
area is covered by boulder clay. Further eastwards, across the central part of the Rhinog Hills, this
stratigraphic unit is either overlain by younger Cambrian rocks or else outcrops at the surface. Further
eastwards still, the whole sequence dips below the surface and is overlain by geologically younger
rocks. Where the Rhinog Grits forms the bedrock, it gives rise to abundant hard quartzitic boulders
within the boulder clay (some marked by glacial striations) that are used in field boundaries and for
walling in farm buildings. These boulders are very hard because of a quartz cement that overgrows the
individual quartz grains of the original sediment, but these original quartz grains are similar in size and
distribution to those in the freestone. It seems that the sandstones of the Rhinog Grits come in two
varieties: the more common, quartz-cemented harder one that is seen in so many of the boulders, and a
softer variety, yielding Egryn Freestone, in which the natural cement is in the form of clay minerals,
aligned so that they occupy the spaces between the quartz grains in the original sediment.
Existing descriptions, such as those in the Cadw Database of Welsh Historic Churches 10 , usually refer
to the stone (perfectly correctly) as sandstone or grit, but such terms are not specific enough to indicate
whether the material in question is Egryn Stone, or from one of the other sources that supplied
sandstone freestones, such as Anglesey or north Wales. Not all of the early buildings listed are well-
dated, but extensive early use of Egryn Stone in Cymer Abbey and Llanaber church point to a well-
organised and productive industry in existence around the beginning of the 13th century 11 . At both
sites, large amounts of dressed Egryn Stone can still be seen in arches, jambs, capitals, and pillars. At
Llanaber (the finest and most complete of the buildings considered in this account), as well as in the
arcade, the south dooway (Figure 1) and the window dressings (until replaced a few years ago), it is
also used in the porch – dating at least in part from the alterations of 1857-1859 12 . Extensive
ecclesiastical use close to the source of the stone is also still evident in the churches at Llanddwywe
(Figure 2) and Llanenddwyn.
Surviving early secular buildings also show that Egryn Stone was an important commodity beyond the
limits of ecclesiastical concern. At Harlech Castle, built c. 1285 and to which the written records
mentioned above refer, Egryn Stone is the principal freestone seen in the earlier part of the structure,
but the windows of the living quarters show a mixture of Egryn and a finer-grained cross-bedded
sandstone, probably Carboniferous in age, and from north or northeast Wales. The Cors-y-Gedol
complex of well-dated gentry house, lodges, and farm, used Egryn Stone for dressings (some dressed
rubblestone was used as well). The keystone of the gatehouse is dated 1630 (Figure 7). The corn barn
on the east side of the complex shows original Egryn Stone jambs in the slit windows and bears a date
of 1685.
Egryn Stone. Page 9 of 11
The original house at Egryn itself was modified and enlarged by insertion of a first floor and dormers
in the early 17th century 13 . These originally had Egryn Stone cills and mullions (some still present;
others have been replaced, probably in the last 100 years, and the old ones discarded in the garden).
Adjacent is a cottage (now a barn) with roof timbers that give a latest felling date of 1618. In the north
wall, this building has a ground floor round-headed doorway formed with three large, well-preserved
blocks of Egryn Stone (Figure 8). Egryn Abbey is seen as being a building of very high status for the
area and suggests the local generation of considerable wealth 14 . The proceeds of quarrying activity
may be implicated.
A felicitous consequence of the recognisability of Egryn Stone, even in very small pieces, is that
fragments may hint at a palimpsest of earlier structures that were markedly altered or completely
rebuilt in earlier times. Pieces of dressings likely to be from the earlier fabric may be incorporated
into the rubble building of the later structure. The case of Machynlleth church (see the list below) is
one example. At Pennal, the 19th century church appears to be entirely built of local slate, but a single
small piece of Egryn Stone in the cill of the northwest window hints at its use in the earlier structure.
The list of known occurrences, as of late 2007, comprises the following, though many examples must
remain to be recognised,. Unless otherwise stated, all six-figure OS map references lie within the SH
one hundred kilometre square. ES = Egryn Stone.
1. Cors y Gedol, 601230. Extensive use in mansion, 8. Llanaber church, 599180. Very complete late 12th
gate house and adjacent farm. Mansion has several / early 13 th C church with extensive ES used inside
windows repaired in ? Cefn Sandstone. Barn with and out. External window dressings recently
slit windows has date plaque of 1685. Gatehouse replaced. Later (mid 19th C) ES incorporated into
has date of 1630 on keystone (Fig.7). rebuilt porch.
2. Cymer Abbey, 721195. Late 12th C foundation, 9. Llanarmon church, 424394. Dressings of
early 13th C abbey. ES used for all dressings, carved window at E end of S wall.
internal work, surviving pillars on N side of nave.
10. Llanbadarn Fawr church, SN 599810. Upper
3. Dolgellau churchyard, 728181. Ornate ES legs to course of foot of the font.
late 18th C table tombs in churchyard south of
porch. 11. Llandanwg church, 569283. Dressings.
4. Egryn ‘Abbey’ and adjacent house (used as a 12. Llanddwywe church, 586223. Extensive use of
barn until recently), 596202. ES mullioned ES in dressings; font.
windows (some later repairs in different sandstone)
in dormers along S side. Dressings to round- 13. Llanegryn church, 596098. Window dressings
topped door in N wall of barn (Figure 8). on N side. The barn on the northern margin of the
churchyard incorporates part of ES window head,
5. Harlech Castle, 580312. ES used for dressings presumably removed from the church in an earlier
and string course in older parts of castle. The repair episode.
dressing of the mullioned windows in the living
quarters are a mixture of ES and other sandstone 14. Llanenddwyn church, 583234. Window
(probably from N or N-E Wales). dressings on S wall of nave and on W wall of south
transept. The style of these suggests that these are
6. Harlech church, 581310. Dressings of 19th C mid 19th C. Plans from the subsequest restoration
church. of 1883 show these as the only 2 windows of which
the dressings were not replaced 15 .
7. Hendre Eirian, house, 598209. Chimney;
removed 1980s; stone dumped alongside farmyard. 15. Llanfair church, 576295. Some dressings.
Egryn Stone. Page 11 of 11
16. Llanfihangel-y-Pennant church, 672088.
Window dressings on N-E side. 19. Penarth Fawr, 420376. Chimney piece and
mullions of (now dismantled) window.
17. Llangelynnin church, 570072. Dressings of
window in S wall. 20. Pennal church, 700004. Single piece of ES
incorporated into the wall beneath easternmost
18. Machynlleth church, 745010. Body of church window on N side.
completely rebuilt in early 19th C. A large ES
window jamb with a glazing groove, presumed to 21. Tal-y-llyn church, 711094. Pieces of ES in
have been removed from the original church and walling in porch.
used as rubble in the 19th C structure, was seen in
the debris pile when the northeast gable end was 22. Tywyn church, 588010. Single piece of ES in
taken down in 2004. west jamb of S door.
The recognition of what appears to have been a substantial medieval industry on Mynedd Egryn raises
many questions that need further study and the expertise of others to answer. The earliest of the extant
Egryn Stone buildings appear to be Cymer Abbey and Llanaber church, probably built within the time
interval indicated by the C14 dates from the trackway timbers close to the putative beach loading sites.
These may be linked. It would be interesting to know whether quarrying activity started before the
Cistercians settled, or whether there was Cistercian input into the development of the project.
Particularly, excavation at some of the many sites in the vicinity of the quarry that are tentatively
interpreted as medieval 16 , might yield evidence for the extent of accessory functions related to stone
extraction and transport. A variety of specialised activities such as smithing, joinery, and stock-
keeping must have been pursued, as well as the everyday domestic life of a substantial workforce.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks for provision of information, background, or access to: Judith Alfrey, Denis Bates, Charles
Bendall, Peter Crew, Andrew Davidson, John Davis, Bob Dodgshon, Louise Donnelly, Toby Driver,
Margaret Dunn, Maurice Giffin, John Latham, Joan Megson, Julian Orbach, Caroline Palmer, Richard
Suggett.
1
Taylor, A.J. 1963. The Kings Works in Wales 1277-1330, p. 302. In Colvin, H.M. (ed), The History of the King’s Works,
Vol 1, The Middle Ages. H.M.S.O.
2
Palmer, T.J. 2008. Dundry Stone and other Limestones in the Fabric, Fittings, and Monuments of St. David’s Cathedral.
In press
3
Davies, J.H. 2005. The stones of Cwmhir Abbey. Pp 49-53 in Coulson, M.R. (ed.) Stone in Wales: Materials, Heritage
and Conservation. Cadw .
4
Elis Gryffudd, D. 2008. Building stones of St David’s Cathedral. In press
5
Taylor, A.J. 1963. The Kings Works in Wales 1277-1330, Appendix C II. In Colvin, H.M. (ed), The History of the King’s
Works, Vols 1 & 2, The Middle Ages. H.M.S.O.
6
Matley, C.A. and Wilson, T.S. 1946. The Harlech Dome, north of the Barmouth Estuary. Quarterly Journal of the
geological Society, 102, 1-40.
7
A. Davidson, Gwynedd Archaeological Trust, pers.comm. 2007.
8
Musson, C.J. et al., 1989. Peat deposits and a medieval trackway at Llanaber, near Barmouth. Archaeology in Wales, 29,
22-26.
9
Matley, C.A. and Wilson, T.S. op. cit.
10
Historic Churches of Gwynedd; Gazetteer of Churches, Diocese of Bangor. Report 390 of the Gwynedd Archaeological
Trust, for Cadw, 2000.
11
Butler, L.A.S. 2001. Cymer Abbey, An Architectural Description. In J. Beverley Smith and L. Beverly Smith (eds).
History of Merioneth, Vol. 2, The Middle Ages. University of Wales Press, Cardiff. In the footnote on p.317, it is
suggested that the stone for both Cymer and Llanaber church may be Cefn-y-fedw sandstone. But this Carboniferous
sandstone from northeast Wales does not have the cleavage that allows the recognition of Egryn Stone.
12
Incorporated Church Building Society, 05350 (see www.churchplansonline.org/)
13
Miles, D. and Worthington, M. 2004. Tree-ring Dates List 157, Vernacular Architecture, 35, 111.
14
R. Suggett, R.C.A.H.M.W., pers. com. 2007.
15
Incorporated Church Building Society, 08785, folios 17ff (see www.churchplansonline.org/)
16
Coflein; National Monuments Record of Wales. www.coflein.gov.uk/