McKeon Stone celebrated 60 years in business this month (July) with a thanksgiving mass at their Irish Blue limestone quarry in Threecastles, Co Laois, Ireland. The Parish Priest of Freshford, Fr Seamus Henry, conducted the service using a block of stone from the quarry as an altar. Offertory gifts included plugs and feathers, a hammer and chisel, and polishing blocks.

The company’s 50 employees from the quarry and the factory in Stradbally came together with neighbours from the area for the occasion. As they looked back over the 60 years since Jimmy McKeon from Stradbally set up his firm they also remembered all those employees who have worked the stone and have since passed away.

These days, McKeon Stone supply their Irish Blue limestone to the architectural and monumental cut-stone markets in Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe with more than 50% of their business coming from exports.