This is the new website of Natural Stone Specialist magazine, the only monthly magazine dedicated exclusively to the natural stone industry in the UK and Ireland.

The magazine has a provenance dating back to 1882. Impressive, but not quite as impressive as the provenance of stonemasonry itself, which dates back millennia. Stone has been used as a building material by mankind for more than 10,000 years – in fact, ever since the first stone-age man hacked a lump of stone off the cave he lived in to give himself better access or to make his living space more comfortable. Edifices such as the pyramids in Egypt and Scara Brae in Scotland from some of man's earliest civilisations still stand today as a testament to the value of stone as a building material. And the ancient knowledge and skills of the masons who used those early tools have been passed down through generations to the masons still producing astounding stonework in the UK and Ireland today.

Stonemasonry is a fascinating subject. Natural Stone Specialist magazine is a business magazine featuring developments in the stone industry for the benefit of everyone who works in stone, from clients and developers, designers and engineers to stone quarriers and miners, masonry companies and contractors. It covers all aspects of the use of dimensional stone for the walls and roofs of buildings, to the kitchens, bathrooms and floors. It covers hard landscaping from major urban regeneration projects to modest patios. It includes the artistic work of sculpture and memorialisation. Whether it is new build, refurbishment, extensions or conservation, if it is in stone, it is in Natural Stone Specialist. And although the magazine is called 'Natural' Stone Specialist, these days its coverage includes the new generation of resin quartz, sintered materials and other engineered stone – materials made especially to be used by the stone industry and created to expand the repertoire of stone processors.

We hope you like the new website, which is part of the Natural Stone Specialist magazine's coverage of the market. Our aim is to benefit anyone wanting to use stone, which is why we have included lists of masonry companies, stone suppliers, machinery tools and consumables companies supplying the industry, and others listed in the Natural Stone Directory, hard copies of which can be ordered from this site (to order a copy click here).

You can also sign up to the Stone Bulletin on this website. The Bulletin is another part of the magazine's news delivery service for the industry and its customers. If you sign up for it, you will receive the Bulletin with news from the industry, information about the Natural Stone Show, and occasional other messages, although we will not inundate you. If you don't like the way we are doing it, you can unsubscribe easily and without any fuss any time you like just by clicking the 'unsubscribe' link at the bottom of the email.

Every other year we bring you an opportunity to get hands-on experience of the industry at the Natural Stone Show at ExCeL London. The next Show will be 25-27 April 2017. You will see links to the Show website around this website.

If you have any comments, or if we can be of any further help to you, we would be happy to hear from you. You can see who we are on the contacts page or just send an email to Eric Bignell, the Editor, at eric@qmj.co.uk