Devonshire marbles—the greatest British decorative stones?

‘Devonshire marbles’ were once the pre‐eminent British decorative stones, installed in dozens of Victorian buildings in Britain and elsewhere. There are numerous varieties, none of which are true marbles for they retain the fossils and sedimentary textures of the original Devonian limestones. Quarried and manufactured across south Devon and used both internally and externally, the stones were part of a passing nineteenth century architectural fashion. There are 20 or so main varieties, mostly now unobtainable, but excellent examples are found in the panels, shafts and floors of some exceptionally fine buildings. These reveal much about the fossils, their depositional environments and the changes that affected them during the Variscan orogeny. Now rediscovered and distinguished for the first time using geological criteria, Devonshire marbles represent a valuable resource for geological, conservation, heritage and architectural research.