About Us
London contains a wealth of high quality rock samples of all types, mostly visible to the public from the pavement. A searchable collection is offered on our website for the benefit of everyone, students, amateurs and professionals alike.
Dave’s story – Ever since my geology degree in the ‘60s I had contemplated a publically accessible set of data about the rocks types and fossils visible to the public in and around London. It started as a vision of a paperback, then migrated to the idea of a CD and was finally realized as this website.
My +40 year career in the oil industry and my family kept me very busy until I returned to the UK in 2003 when I considered starting the project in earnest. I then discovered that the Geologists’ Association had supported Dr. Eric Robinson of UCL, who published two books entitled London: Illustrated Geological Walks, now out of print.
I had always wanted to have the website accessible by mobile devices to allow for the most access possible. In the Spring of 2014 I was able to meet with Ruth for the first time to explain my project’s concepts and found a fellow enthusiastic London building & pavement geologist ! I discovered the vast amount and depth of her work which she has VERY kindly allowed me to use on my website. Ruth’s support has really enabled this project to become a reality for me, Thank You Ruth.
Ruth’s story – For most of my adult life I have been a lecturer in geology at UCL, teaching petrology, structural geology and tectonics. However most of my research has been looking at geological materials used by people, as building materials, ceramics and pigments.
I have had the privilege to work with first Dr. Eric Robinson at UCL, a pioneer and great promoter of the built environment as a geological field area, using the streets of London, and many other British cities as a teaching and learning resource. Although I have consulted and researched the identification marbles and other decorative stones in various buildings in UK and abroad, I have not been able to find a home for my growing archive of the stone used to build London.
I decided to start updating Dr. Eric Robinson’s urban geological guides and walks (and adding new ones), but this did not accommodate all my data. Meeting Dave Wallis, with his idea for a location map showcasing London’s stones seemed the perfect solution.
Our hope is that this will be a useful resource for both professional and amateur geologists, as well as a growing archive for stone conservators, architects and architectural historians.
Enjoy them!
We also hope that it will encourage people from many walks of life to ask ‘what is this building stone, where did it come from etc.’ Take a photo and submit it to us and we’ll see what we can do to help.
Ruth & Dave