Fieldstone
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Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a
In practice, fieldstone is any architectural stone used in its natural shape and can be applied to stones recovered from the topsoil or subsoil. Although fieldstone is generally used to describe such material when used for exterior walls, it has come to include its use in other ways including garden features and interiors. It is sometimes cut or split for use in architecture.
Glacial deposition
Fieldstone is common in soils throughout temperate latitudes due to glacial deposition.[1] The type of field stones left through glaciation, are known as glacial erratics.[4] In Canada and the northern United States, the advance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet pulverized bedrock, and its retreat deposited several dozen meters of unsorted till in previously glaciated areas as far south as New England and the Upper Midwest.
Although a coarse layer of glacial ablation would settle on top of the deeper lodgment till, it was these more deeply set stones that would prove a persistent challenge for
Large collections of fieldstone can be found at the edge of the
Fieldstones and human settlement
The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (September 2021) |
Settled agriculture requires relatively fine and uniform soils for intensive use, and large rocks pose additional risks for agricultural machinery, which they can damage if not removed. Because the stones are widely disseminated, removing fieldstone is a widespread and costly activity in early agricultural settlement. To prepare fields for cultivation, farmers need to remove these stones, which requires significant manual labor. Until the 19th century, fieldstone was removed exclusively by hand, often with whole families participating in this task.[5] Depending on the harshness of winters, this task needed to be repeated whenever frost levels churned new stones into soil surfaces. Thus, land with many fieldstones was and is considered marginal and is assessed for tax purposes well below land that is considered stone-free.
In
In New England
Fieldstone became abundant throughout
Each spring, the
On the High Plains
Fieldstone occurs extensively on the High Plains. On or near the surface, fieldstones come in many colors, and are limited in size to about 4 feet in diameter, although larger rocks are sometimes recovered. Pretty and colorful, fieldstones are used occasionally as building materials; some of the more stately homes on the Prairies are constructed of fieldstone and are over a century old. However, fieldstone as a building material is very much underused.[11][12]
Gallery
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Chad House, Pennsylvania, United States
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Fieldstone barn in Ontario, Canada.
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Fieldstone building in Michigan, United States
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A fieldstone wall enclosing a Pennsylvania barnyard
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Dry-stone walls built of fieldstones on Inisheer, Ireland
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Pavilion constructed of fieldstone in Pennsylvania, United States
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Fieldstone house in León, Spain
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Leonidas Stone School,(Leonidas, Michigan)
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Mortared fieldstone of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Trenton, Wisconsin.
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Church of Saint Remaclus, Belgium. A Romanesque church built of fieldstone.
See also
- Dry-stone wall
- Earl Young (architect)
- Stone wall
- Stonemasonry
- Architecture
References
- ^ a b Andriote, John M. (13 May 2014). "The history, science and poetry of New England's stone walls". EARTH Magazine. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
- ^ Kusmer, Anna (4 May 2018). "New England Is Crisscrossed With Thousands of Miles of Stone Walls". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
- ^ "Purposes Then and Now | Stone Wall Initiative". stonewall.uconn.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
- ISBN 978-0935796773.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8027-7687-7.
- ^ Wright, G. Frederick (1889). The Ice Age in North America. D. Appleton and Company. pp. 175–195.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions | Stone Wall Initiative". stonewall.uconn.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
- ^ Schweizer, Corey. "The Geology of Colonial New England Stone Walls". www.primaryresearch.org. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
- ^ Battista, Carolyn (27 September 1998). "Stone Walls, Clues to a Very Deep Past". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
- ^ Exchange, The. "What's The Story Behind New Hampshire's Stone Walls?". Retrieved 2018-11-10.
- ^ "Reynolds Stone House". HistoricPlaces.ca. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ Lorraine Brecht. "Edenwold & the Zehner grid". www.worldisround.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2011-07-25.