The original stone known under this name was a moderately coarse-grained sandstone of the millstone grit formation, from Bramley, near Leeds. It held a very high character for durability and strength.

It was found in large blocks, and was specially suited and used for heavy engineering works. .

Thin stones of good quality cannot be produced from the best beds of the quarries without great waste. When therefore such stones are specified, they are sometimes supplied from the upper beds, which are of inferior quality.1

Since the introduction of railways the original Bramley Fall quarries have almost ceased to be worked, but a great deal of similar stone is found to the north of Leeds, and is sold under the same name, which has become a generic name for the class of stone wherever it may be quarried.

As a rule the stone sold under this name has considerable strength and durability, but in some cases an excess of grains of potash-felspar makes it weather badly.

" Owing to its cheapness - and also to a want of knowledge that the best stone rises in large masses - many gentlemen specify their stones for templates, pad stones, bases, steps, and landings and copings to be worked out of Bramley Fall only 7 or 8 inches thick. This mistake has caused some quarry men and producers to substitute inferior top rock for good stone, because the inferior top stone frequently rises in thinner lifts." 2

Bramley Fall stone has been used for the most massive engineering structures in the country. Its weathering qualities may be observed in Kirkstall Abbey, near Leeds, which was built with this stone in the twelfth century.