The origins of granite
Granite used to be quarried in all corners of the British Isles. You can find granite and related igneous rocks in a wide variety of locations in the British Isles: these range a lot in origin and geological age.
British granites display a wide range of textures and colours due to the differences in the conditions of emplacement and mineral composition.
Granite, which is used for a wide variety of uses: including engineering, building interiors and granite worktops, forms when large magma bodies cool at depth in the crust. This slow cooling allows large, interlocking mineral crystals to grow.
Typically granites compositionally contain 55-75% silica. They are usually pale coloured and have medium to coarse, grained crystals that can be seen by the naked eye. The crystals that interlock give cohesion that adds strength and makes the granites suitable for being polished without any plucking of the grains. The finer grained granites were typically used for structural uses, including walling, foundations, paving and kerbing, while the coarser grained varieties of granites were used for ornamental work. The amount of silica and stable minerals in granite make the stone particularly durable and strong.
