page_title: Kentish ragstone
section_title: Modern uses of Kentish ragstone
hierarchical_section_title: Kentish ragstone / Modern uses of Kentish ragstone
caption_attribution_description: English: A new housing development built using Kentish Ragstone
context_page_description: Kentish ragstone is a hard grey limestone in Kent, England, drawn from the geological formation known as the Hythe Beds of the Lower Greensand. For millennia it has been quarried for use both locally and farther afield.
context_section_description: Only two ragstone quarries are operational in Kent, Hermitage Quarry in Barming and Blaise Farm near King's Hill. Hermitage Quarry continues to meet the traditional demand for building stone for use in modern buildings. Modern demand is busy and diverse, however, with about 60 different products being required for use in the ready mix concrete, road building and engineering industries. Block stone is used for the construction of walls and repairs to historical buildings. Larger stone is used for the construction of seawalls and barriers against coastal erosion.
  Ragstone is important for repairing historic buildings to ensure that the repairs blend in with the original building. The Hermitage Quarry is the only supplier of Kentish Ragstone building stone in Kent. Blaise Farm is excavated mainly for aggregate, and is not regarded as being a realistic source of building stone. If ragstone cannot be obtained locally, historic buildings such as Rochester Castle, the Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone or the city walls at Canterbury will have to be repaired with stone imported from abroad or elsewhere in the UK, making it difficult to blend in repairs with a traditional Kentish ragstone appearance.
caption: A new housing development in Maidstone, built using Kentish Ragstone
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