Trinity geologists release new book for walkers interested in Dublin’s built heritage

Posted on: 21 March 2025

Walkers can explore ten carefully plotted trails that introduce a diverse selection of Dublin’s buildings and monuments. Some are majestic, some are care-worn, but all come with a fascinating geological and architectural back story. Each illustrated walk is accompanied by an easy-to-follow map and takes one to two hours to complete.

And some of the walks feature parts of Trinity and its buildings, with one focusing solely on our iconic city centre campus.

Dublin has long been celebrated for its history, character and wit, but while most commentators focus on the citizens of this town, fewer recall the splendour of its buildings. This book, for its part, delves into the very fabric of the city – the stone from which it is built. Whether drawn from local limestone and granite quarries, from sandstone, slate and marble quarries across the country, or imported from abroad, stone imparts a feeling to this city that distinguishes it from any other.

The Decorative and Building Stones of Dublin documents over 170 stone types used to build Ireland’s capital. It focuses on both historic and less notable buildings, as well as monuments, and illuminates the work of the quarrymen, craftspeople, building contractors and architects who constructed and designed them.

The book is an output of the project STONEBUILT Ireland, based at Trinity (see the project website www.stonebuiltireland.com), which has been generously grant-aided by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland (via its former Irish Research Council  COALESCE scheme, 2019-20), the Geological Survey Ireland (2020-27), and the Office of Public Works (2020-27).

Prof. Wyse Jackson is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and Professor in Geology and Curator of the Geological Museum in Trinity, where he carries out research on dimension and decorative stone on the STONEBUILT Ireland project. He also has interests in fossil bryozoans and the history of geology in Ireland.

Dr Caulfield completed her undergraduate degree in geology before an MSc in environmental sciences at Trinity. She received a PhD from Trinity for her research on the exploitation of decorative stone in Victorian Ireland. She was a research assistant on the Making Victorian Dublin project and now carries out research for the STONEBUILT Ireland project.

The Decorative and Building Stones of Dublin: a walking guide, ISBN 978-0-9521066-9-2, is on sale for €20 and is available from the Trinity Library Shop.

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