Four books published this year cover a good range of levels of interest in stone.

A good, straight forward introduction to stoneworking that strips away the mystery, the lack of which has often been decried, has been written by Chris Daniels, previously a lecturer at Weymouth College and now a freelance architectural conservator and consultant.

Called The Craft of Stonemasonry (£25 from The Crowood Press, ISBN 978 1 84797 385 6), Chris’s book could prove a useful aide memoir to students but would also be a benefit to those working alongside stonemasons who want a better understanding of a mason’s considerations when working stone.

At a rather more basic level is Charles Margetts’ A DIY Guide to Stone in the Home. (£14.99 from The Crowood Press, ISBN 978 1 84797 399 3). Again, this could be quite a useful guide to someone wanting to know a bit more about how stone companies operate but you can’t help feeling chapters such as fitting your own granite kitchen worktop could lead to DIY disasters.

The other two books here are for the enthusiast. There are now thousands of amateur stone wallers who are immersed in the subject simply for the joy of it. They will be enthralled by Patrick McAfee’s book, Irish Stone Walls (£14.99 from The O’Brien Press, ISBN 978-1-84717-234-1) which is now available for the first time in paperback. More than 15,000 hard-back copies of the book have already been sold.

For those who want more substantial reading, Inigo’s Stones by Tom Williamson (£11.99 from Troubador Publishing, ISBN 9781 780881 201) uses new research to explore Inigo Jones’ involvement with stone and how he used that knowledge to project the imperial power of some of his clients.