Galician Granite
We’ve spent a lot of time sailing along the Celtic coastline, the Atlantic fringe of western Europe. Cornwall, Brittany and Galicia, three nations linked by their deep-rooted Celtic heritage, distinct language and shared maritime geography. Much like the Cornubian Batholith, both areas on the continent also share an abundance of granite. Demonstrated in the historic towns dotted along the coastline, which are nearly completely constructed in the coarse-grained stone and appear to be almost carved from rocky outcroppings.
In Galicia, the most northwest corner of Spain, the granite is buttery yellow and used for both buildings old and new. We saw historic buildings built using massive blocks of stone, far larger than anything in Cornwall, as well as new buildings in-construction using granite as the load-bearing structure for multi-storey buildings. We were captivated by these building techniques that would have historically been the norm in Cornwall but have been displaced by concrete construction and tighter regulations.
Returned to Cornwall and energised by our fieldwork in Galicia, we continued our explorations into load-bearing granite structures. Looking into historic buildings built of Carnmenellis granite, a plateau encompassing our local quarry- Trenoweth in Mabe.
Both our projects Morlanow and Florence House use Granite from Trenoweth, known colloquially as ‘Buckle and Twist.
