It has taken a long time, but at last the papers from the Stone in Wales conference in 2002 - or some of them - have been compiled into the first title published by Cadw in what it is hoped will become a library of built heritage conservation in Wales.

The publication is called Stone in Wales: Materials, Heritage and Conservation. The main reason given for its delay is its translation into Welsh, especially of some of the more technical terms about which there was not always agreement about their translation among Welsh speakers.

The A4 size book carries both the Welsh and the English versions, but so that neither appears before the other, both covers are the front, the publication being turned over and upsidedown to start the alternative translation.

Whether diplomatically or simply practically, both versions fill 104 pages, the indices - and mercifully there is an index as it is always so frustrating when reference works are not indexed - meeting at the central binding.

The conference held early in April in 2002 at the Museum of Wales in Cardiff lasted three days, and the book is also divided into three sections, headed, like the title, \'materials\', \'heritage\' and \'conservation\'.

Not all the papers from the conference have been included because not all the speakers submitted their presentations for the book, which is a shame. They were asked to write shorter versions of their papers for the book. They have been edited with final versions approved by the authors.

The result is papers at digestible lengths illustrated throughout by colour diagrams and photographs in an uncramped, fluent design. The book is not devoid of technical terms, but most people should not have trouble understanding them.

Combined, the papers provide a pleasing mix of overview and case study and give a fascinating insight into the production and use of stone in Wales, indigenous and imported, for all kinds of buildings from abbeys to dry stone walls.

The conference in Cardiff in 2002 led on to the formation of the Welsh Stone Forum, an organisation to champion and preserve the vernacular traditions of using stone by promoting a greater understanding of it as a sustainable material.

This book explains some of the stories the stones of the buildings tell in the history of Wales and will, it is to be hoped, help preserve some of those traditions so that they continue to add to the story of Wales through current and future development.

At the conference, a presentation was given by Jonathan Adams, the architect of the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, about just such a continuation of tradition in a modern idiom - he used Welsh slate in the dry stone wall tradition on the Millennium Centre. It is a shame that paper is not included to demonstrate that heritage is not all in the past.

Nevertheless, this book is an enjoyable read with fascinating insights into the geology and built heritage of Wales.

Stone in Wales, ISBN 1 85760 221 8, is available for £45 including p&p from Cadw, Unit 5/7 Cefn Coed, Parc Nantgarw, Cardiff CF15 7QQ.