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Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney

The inscription on Seamus Heaney’s gravestone, which stands in the cemetery adjoining St Mary’s parish church in Bellaghy, the town where he spent much of his childhood, speaks as much of the man himself as it does of his poetry.  The words are clear, and beautiful, as is the craftsmanship that set them in the stone.

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London, Irish Blue Limestone

London, Irish Blue Limestone

London is the largest capital city in Western Europe, very possibly the oldest, and almost certainly the most important.  There has always been a settlement on the mouth of the River Thames, and over the centuries it has grown, inching along the waterway and extending to the north and the south. It is always changing. The most recent major development…

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Sheffield – Irish Blue Limestone

Sheffield – Irish Blue Limestone

It is not long since town planning seemed to concern itself almost entirely with methods of moving traffic from one place to another with the minimum of delay.  Nothing was to be allowed to stand in the way of the car. Today, the citizens of some of the greatest cities in Europe are demanding something far more imaginative than Inner…

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Ostend Seawall Defense – Splitstone for Seawall

Ostend Seawall Defense – Splitstone for Seawall

For the Low Countries of Western Europe, sea defences have been an essential part of life for centuries.  Dikes have been constructed for nearly a thousand years, and the expertise in coastal development engineering to be found today in Belgium and Holland is second to none.  Life depends upon the sea defences; huge tracts of land lying below sea level, and the population density in these areas is high.

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Harcourt Road

Harcourt Road

5, Harcourt Road, an almost futuristic building set in the heart of the commercial sector of Dublin, owes much of its dramatic effect to the clever use of Kilkenny Blue Limestone, supplied by McKeon Stone and fixed by Stonetech of Carlow. 

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Machinery Movers magazine, November 2018 issue

Machinery Movers magazine, November 2018 issue

Jimmy McKeon from Stradbally, County Laois, a master craftsman and a skilled expert in stone carving, started his own business in Stradbally in 1950. Since then, McKeon Stone has been extracting large premium blocks of stone, using world-class technology, from their 20-acre site. Built stone The special features and versatility of natural blue limestone offer architects, builders and sculptors countless…

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Carving A Reputation

Carving A Reputation

As a master craftsman, Jimmy McKeon was already a skilled carver of stone when he launched his own business quarrying one of the most versatile types of stone in Ireland – McKeon’s Kilkenny Blue Limestone.

McKeon Stone is the sole remaining Irish-owned limestone quarry in Ireland and specialises in providing a bespoke cutting and carving service carried out at their workshop in Stradbally. 

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