Granite is a stony substance which is found to exist in some of the southern parts of the country, as well as in those of the north, but it abounds much more in the latter.
In the western parts of Cornwall, it is in great plenty in the districts of Pemyith and Kirrier, presenting itself in large slabs on all the rocky hills or tors, as well as in the waste moors and valleys, and appearing in detached spots, even in the shelve slaty tracts. It is of different colours and textures, being adapted to a great variety of uses and pur poses, as those of building, and being wrought into columnar masses, eight or ten feet in length, for supporters to sheds, out-houses, &c., and as gate-posts, and bridges over brooks, rivulets, &c., as well as in the forming of rollers, and malting, salting, and pig-t•oughs. It is also an article of commerce to different parts. It is supposed to be exactly of the same nature with the original granite ; and there are five sorts of it, which are distinguished by their colours, the white, the dusky or dove-coloured, the yellow, the red, and the black, most of which are charged with a brown and bright silvery matter.
The county of Inverness has a great deal of this sort of stone, and there are numerous quarries for raising and work ing it. The common granite abounds in all the different districts of it. In many places, the whole rocks are composed of this kind, which is uncommonly useful for all ordinary purposes. By natural fissures, which run in straight lines, and generally at right angles, it is into all-sized por tions and shapes, having uniformly a plain surface ; and, by means of cutters or transverse lines, these stones are easily quarried, and found in the greatest plenty everywhere. They are remarkably beautiful, being almost as smooth and regu lar as hewn stone, and, of course, well suited for various sorts of building-work. The best buildings of the county town are of a dark kind of granite, which is very hard and durable, but which has few or no fissures. It is generally found in large blocks; and in many of these parts, there is no other material for building or adding ornament with. The manlier of giving it the polish it admits of, at the quar ries, is by means of small picks or pick-axes, which are, in f'act, hammers with sharp points at each end, in the manner of those employed by millers in preparing their grinding stones. It is a very heavy, compact stone. There is a mixed sort, denominated patsy gracile, which consists of white, black, and gray spots, that sparkle beautifully in the sun, is very ornamental, and much used for different purposes, as stairs, doors, and windows. Though this is very solid, and almost without natural fissures, it splits very straight, by means of iron wedges, set in a line, and struck alternately with a hammer of great power.
A great deal of this kind of stone is imported into the metropolis, and other large towns, thr paving the streets, &c.
It is, on the whole, a very advantageous sort of quarry mate rial in various parts of the kingdom.
Quarries of freestone are wrought in a great number of different places. In the more southern parts is found the Portland-stone, which is so famous and useful in building. A sort of this kind of stone, which much approaches to it in quality, is also met with in Cornwall. Some likewise exists in Devonshire and Gloucestershire. The Cotswold quarries, in the latter, afford freestone of an excellent quality, particularly those at Painswick, Lodbury, Lockhampton-hill, &c. It abounds more, however, in Cheshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and some of the still more northern districts. Several excellent quarries of freestone are carried on in the first of these, as those at Runcorn, Manley, &c., where much valuable stone of this nature is raised. The second county also allbrds equally valuable quarries in many different places, from which vast quantities of the stone are raised, and employed, or sent away to a dis tance. Those about Ormskirk, Up-Holland, and Wigan, as well as those on all the eastern side, are in general of a very good quality ; and in the vicinity of Lancaster there are some excellent ones; that on the moor, or common, close to the town, is very extensive, and aflbrds a freestone that admits of a fine polish. In this district, this sort of stone is met with, of a N•hitish-bro•n, yellowish and reddish cast, but the first is by much the most esteemed. In the eastern parts of Westmoreland, as about Hutton Rode, and some other places, a good sort of freestone is dug up from pits and quarries formed for raising it. This sort of stone exists, and is quarried almost all over, the counties of Cumberland and Northumberland ; and prevails occasionally in others, where it is wrought to advantage. A grit-gone, somewhat of this nature, is met with in some districts, as in Shropshire, &c., which is raised from quarries, and used as a building material. And a sandstone exists to considerable extent in others, as in Sussex, &c., that is sometimes dug up, and made use of for common buildings, &c. In Cheshire, on the hills near Macclesfield, about Kerridge, a sort of sandstone is met with, which is particularly well suited to the making of flags, and whetting tools, as well as sometimes to the forming of slates, for which it was formerly much employed. Near Pott-Shrigley, also, a fine sandstone is found, that admits of a good polish. The quarry has not, however, been wrought for some late years, as, from the extreme hardness of the stone, the expense of getting it is very considerable. There are several other quarries of excellent freestone wrought in the same neighbourhood.