Ruth Siddall’s Urban Geology Walks
Ruth Siddall identified the stone in this catalogue. Most of the records here were visited, photographed and identified by her. Alongside that work she writes Urban Geology, a series of free, self-guided building stone walks that take you round a street, a square or a single building and explain what you are looking at.
They are hers, they live on her own site, and she keeps adding to them, which is why this page points you there rather than reproducing the list.
- 50+free walking guides
- 41numbered London walks
- 2013first guide published
- 2025most recent revision
Where the walks go
- 41Urban Geology in LondonUCL and Tottenham Court Road through to the Foreign Office
- 4The English MidlandsThree around central Birmingham, plus the National Memorial Arboretum
- 2CornwallHelston, and St Michael’s Church
- 2Britain-wideBritain’s Fossil Arboretum, and Portland Stone
- 1Further afieldDoha, Qatar
- 7Site guidesLondon Geodiversity Partnership geosites she also hosts
Five to start with
- No. 20London’s Pub GeologyA spotter’s guide to the granites and marbles on Victorian and Edwardian pub fronts. Sixty-odd pubs.Open the guide (PDF)
- No. 30Fossils in the Portland StoneWhat to look for in the stone half of London is built from. Revised in June 2025.Open the guide (PDF)
- No. 21Granites of the Victoria EmbankmentA stroll from Charing Cross to Westminster and Blackfriars Bridge.Open the guide (PDF)
- No. 16Luxury Lithics on Bond StreetThe most expensive stone in London, on the shop fronts that could afford it.Open the guide (PDF)
- No. 6Gresham Street and the GuildhallFrom Bank station into the City, past the Roman amphitheatre.Open the guide (PDF)
Two different things
Ruth’s walks are routes
They take you somewhere and tell you the story in order. Start at one end, finish at the other, and you will have learned how to look at a wall.
This catalogue is an index
It tells you what one building is made of, wherever you happen to be standing. No route, no order — just the stone, its age and where it was quarried.
Using the guides
The guides are free to download. If you intend to use one as the basis for a group walking tour, Ruth asks that you check her permissions first. The walks and the photographs in them are hers.