Sett (paving)

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The square of Bispetorvet in Copenhagen, Denmark, paved with setts Brosten, Bispetorvet.jpg
The square of Bispetorvet in Copenhagen, Denmark, paved with setts
Laying setts in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2013 Laying setts in Edinburgh.JPG
Laying setts in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2013
Setts in pallet collars Gatsten i pallkragar - Ystad-2021.jpg
Setts in pallet collars

A sett, also known as a block or Belgian block, [1] is a broadly rectangular quarried stone used in paving roads and walkways. [2] [3] Formerly in widespread use, particularly on steeper streets because setts provided horses' hooves with better grip than a smooth surface, they are now encountered rather as decorative stone paving in landscape architecture. Setts are often referred to as "cobblestones", although a sett is distinct from a cobblestone in that it is quarried or worked to a regular shape, whereas the latter is generally a small, naturally-rounded rock. Setts are usually made of granite.

Contents

Places

Europe

Places paved with setts include many streets in Rome and elsewhere in Italy (where blocks are called sampietrini or bolognini), since the technique was first used by Romans.

In Aberdeen (Scotland), and much of Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town, a large number of streets retain the original setts.

The setts at the junction of Eden Street and Criffel Street in Silloth on Solway, Cumbria, UK Eden Street Silloth on Solway.jpg
The setts at the junction of Eden Street and Criffel Street in Silloth on Solway, Cumbria, UK

Silloth on Solway, a seaside town in Cumbria, still has setts (originally laid in the 19th century) on Eden St and the seafront Criffel Street. Streets paved with setts feature in cycling competitions, including the "Tour of Britain", which visited Silloth on Solway in 2015.

St. Anne, Alderney, the main town of Alderney in the Channel Islands, has many streets constructed of locally quarried granite setts. They continue to be maintained and replaced today.

Streets in Belgian towns are historically layered with Belgian blocks, both in the centre areas and the outer residential neighbourhoods. However, in recent years, many of them have been progressively replaced by asphalt in order to reduce car noise and improve conditions for commuter cycling. Many streets and roads in Belgium and remote country routes just over the border in northern France are still dominated by setts, with some gaining notoriety through bicycle races such as the Paris–Roubaix race.

Streets in Danish the old part of towns are also often layered with sett, known as brosten or bridge-stones. To make it easier to bike on, the part of the road meant for bicycles are paved with special stones that are saw-cut on top for smoothness and jet-burned for friction. [4] [5] Vendersgade in Copenhagen is the latest CycleStreet to get jet-burned and saw-cut setts on the part of the road between Israels Plads and Torvehallerne to create cohesion [6] between the square and the market area, and make it safe for pedestrians to cross the cyclestreet.

In addition to streets, large public squares also employed setts, as seen at Moscow's Red Square.

America

In New York City, the West Village (including the Meatpacking District), SoHo, and TriBeCa neighborhoods retain such streets. The Holland Tunnel used the blocks extensively and can still be seen in some spots including under pavement of service roads on the New Jersey side. Older sections of Brooklyn such as DUMBO and surrounding neighborhoods also have streets bearing Belgian blocks. [7]

In the Dearing Street Historic District of Athens, Georgia, Finley Street, between Broad Street and The Tree That Owns Itself, retains Belgian blocks, the only street in the city to be so paved.

Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia, in particular its upper reaches through Germantown, Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill, is notable for being paved with Belgian blocks; repaving projects on this thoroughfare have retained or reintroduced block paving to give additional historic character to these neighborhoods. Part of this character includes the tracks of the 23 trolley, though the modern tracks are encased in concrete slabs rather than blocks, and the trolley line itself is currently operated by buses.

In Richmond, Virginia, Belgian block streets are particularly common, most notably in Shockoe Slip. Street cars traveled through the street on tracks that are still visible though the system has been replaced by buses.

The Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore also has Belgian block streets.

In many cities besides Richmond and Philadelphia setts have often been used for pavement around street-running trolley or tram lines in the same manner as brickwork.

Portland, Oregon, used Belgian block paving extensively in the 19th century, starting near the Willamette River, to stop the streets from washing away in floods. Many streets in older parts of the city are underlain by these blocks, and a few streets in the Pearl District still feature this kind of pavement. The City of Portland stockpiles these blocks when they are dug up for street or utility repairs or renovation. They have been used between the rails in some of TriMet's MAX light rail lines to warn automobile drivers that they are driving on light rail right of way. The romantic claim that old Portland "cobbles" were imported as ship's ballast is incorrect; they are local basalt, quarried near St. Helens in Oregon.[ citation needed ]

Archaeological

In older towns and cities setts may be used to outline buried archaeological features beneath the road surface such as city walls, gates and cathedrals, for example the first Rochester Cathedral.

Sett sizes and colors

Samples of setts in Lysekil, Sweden, quarried and cut in Bohuslan, once a major producer of granite setts. The image has notations about the different types of setts; they can also be identified by an information board (in Swedish). Circles of granite sett paving next to Kungstorget in Lysekil 1.jpg
Samples of setts in Lysekil, Sweden, quarried and cut in Bohuslän, once a major producer of granite setts. The image has notations about the different types of setts; they can also be identified by an information board (in Swedish).

Examples

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidewalk</span> Pedestrian path along the side of a road

A sidewalk, pavement, footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a road. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick, stone, or asphalt, it is designed for pedestrians. A sidewalk is normally higher than the roadway, and separated from it by a kerb. There may also be a planted strip between the sidewalk and the roadway and between the roadway and the adjacent land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street</span> Public thoroughfare in a built environment

A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as tarmac, concrete, cobblestone or brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road surface</span> Road covered with durable surface material

A road surface or pavement is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, macadam, hoggin, cobblestone and granite setts were extensively used, but these have mostly been replaced by asphalt or concrete laid on a compacted base course. Asphalt mixtures have been used in pavement construction since the beginning of the 20th century and are of two types: metalled (hard-surfaced) and unmetalled roads. Metalled roadways are made to sustain vehicular load and so are usually made on frequently used roads. Unmetalled roads, also known as gravel roads, are rough and can sustain less weight. Road surfaces are frequently marked to guide traffic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Permeable paving</span> Roads built with water-pervious materials

Permeable paving surfaces are made of either a porous material that enables stormwater to flow through it or nonporous blocks spaced so that water can flow between the gaps. Permeable paving can also include a variety of surfacing techniques for roads, parking lots, and pedestrian walkways. Permeable pavement surfaces may be composed of; pervious concrete, porous asphalt, paving stones, or interlocking pavers. Unlike traditional impervious paving materials such as concrete and asphalt, permeable paving systems allow stormwater to percolate and infiltrate through the pavement and into the aggregate layers and/or soil below. In addition to reducing surface runoff, permeable paving systems can trap suspended solids, thereby filtering pollutants from stormwater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cobblestone</span> Natural stones for surfacing roads and buildings

Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese pavement</span> Type of patterned pavement

Portuguese pavement, known in Portuguese as calçada portuguesa or simply calçada is a traditional-style pavement used for many pedestrian areas in Portugal. It consists of small flat pieces of stones arranged in a pattern or image, like a mosaic. It can also be found in Olivença and throughout former Portuguese colonies. Portuguese workers are also hired for their skill in creating these pavements in places such as Gibraltar. Being usually used in sidewalks, it is in town squares and atriums that this art finds its deepest expression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavers (flooring)</span> Stone or tile structure which can serve as floor; pavement type with solid blocks

A paver is a paving stone, tile, brick or brick-like piece of concrete commonly used as exterior flooring. In a factory, concrete pavers are made by pouring a mixture of concrete and some type of coloring agent into a mold of some shape and allowing to set. They are generally placed on top of a foundation which is made of layers of compacted stone and sand. The pavers are placed in the desired pattern and the space between pavers is then filled with a polymeric sand. No actual adhesive or retaining method is used other than the weight of the paver itself except edging. Pavers can be used to make roads, driveways, patios, walkways and other outdoor platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Driveway</span> Type of private road for local access to one or a small group of structures

A driveway is a type of private road for local access to one or a small group of structures, and is owned and maintained by an individual or group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silloth</span> Port town in Cumbria, England

Silloth is a port town and civil parish in Cumberland, Cumbria, England. Historically in the county of Cumberland, the town is an example of a Victorian seaside resort in the North of England.

<i>Sampietrini</i> Italian cobblestone street pavement

Sampietrini is the pavement found in the historic district of Rome and in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City. The earliest examples were made by trimming large blocks that had been used in ancient Roman roads, as recently discovered in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century archeological excavations. The first documented use in Rome of "sampietrini" stones was during the reign of Pope Pius V (1566–72). Over the next two centuries, the stones were used to pave all the main streets of Rome, because this mode was superior to brick, as it provided a smoother, stronger surface for carriages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curb</span> Edge where a sidewalk meets a road

A curb, or kerb, is the edge where a raised sidewalk or road median/central reservation meets a street or other roadway.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolson pavement</span> Type of wooden road surface

Nicolson pavement, alternatively spelled "Nicholson" and denominated wooden block pavement and wood block pavement, is a road surface material consisting of wooden blocks. Samuel Nicolson invented it in the mid-19th century. Wooden block pavement has since become unfavored because of its poor surface quality and high cost of maintenance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B5302 road</span> A road in Cumbria, England

The B5302 is a B road which runs for approximately twelve-and-a-quarter miles between the towns of Silloth-on-Solway and Wigton in Cumbria, United Kingdom. From west to east, it passes through the villages of Causewayhead, Calvo, Abbeytown, Wheyrigg, and Waverbridge, and also passes near to Blackdyke and Blencogo. At its eastern end, it comes very close to the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and passes by Silloth Airfield, left over from the Second World War. Several of the villages that the road passes through were formerly served by trains on the single-track Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway, which closed with the Beeching axe in the 1960s. It is the main road connecting Silloth-on-Solway and surrounding settlements with the A596, and by extension, the city of Carlisle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cobblestone mosaics (Freiburg im Breisgau)</span>

Cobblestone mosaics can be found throughout Freiburg im Breisgau. Most mosaics are embedded in the cobblestone pavement of the city centre of Freiburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roslyn Place (street)</span>

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Medina sandstone is a geographic subset of the Medina Group stratigraphic formation in New York state and beyond. The name refers specifically to sandstone first quarried in Medina, NY and later quarried in other locations in Orleans County and adjacent quarries in Monroe County to the east and Niagara County to the west. Medina sandstone was widely used to pave the streets of early U.S. cities because it was sufficiently hard to stand long and severe service, and in wearing, it maintained a flat, even surface where granite would wear round and acquire a smooth slippery polish. The Medina stone was also a highly desirable building stone that could be obtained in colors from light gray to pink, red and brown. It was used in the construction of hundreds of homes, churches, public buildings, monuments and other structures from the 1830s to the mid-1900s.

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References

  1. Liefde, Lisa Van (30 September 2016). "What is Belgian Block?". Monarch Stone International. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  2. Oliver, David. "A Walking Tour of The Royal Burgh of Wick". Caithness.org. Retrieved 2009-03-04. At the first building after the end of the bridge, turn left into East High street which has not been widened and still has old stone setts.
  3. Potter, Chris (October 14, 2004). "Were Pittsburgh's original finished roads and streets paved with cobblestone, Belgian block or some other type of brick?". Pittsburgh City Paper . Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  4. http://kk.sites.itera.dk/apps/kk_pub2/pdf/1133_mLNsMM8tU6.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  5. "Infrastructure and design can make cycling more attractive". 14 May 2019. Archived from the original on 2022-11-27.
  6. "Israels Plads vokser sammen". 24 February 2021.
  7. "Historic Streetscape Study" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-07-10.
  8. Leonardo Ladeira (2 July 2010). "Travessa do Comércio – Um passeio pelo Rio Colonial" (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2023.