This was a project in Knutsford, Cheshire. Driveway to country house built late
1800. The project was overseen by Tony McCormack.of paving expert.com
.plans drawn by tony .
http://www.pavingexpert.com/images/blogpix/OldCroft_guilloche.jpg .now for some working pictures.
Jobs like this don't come along very often, and it's a real treat to be
involved in a project that will restore a property to its true former
glory, using original materials as far as possible, and celebrating the
skills of a genuine
streetmason.
The photo above was the scene late on Saturday afternoon with
Cookie in the foreground laying the sandstone setts and Sean just behind
him fettling some of the Egyptian granite. In a frenetic nine-hour
shift, with just an hour for a barbecue lunch kindly provided by the
client, just over half of the guilloche was completed.
As mentioned previously, the centre of the feature is a 5m diameter
silver-grey granite circle custom-cut and supplied by McMonagle Stone in
Ireland (even when haulage is added on, they are considerably cheaper
than any of the UK suppliers). The outer bands are dark basalt setts
originally from North Wales but salvaged from a disused tram shed in a
neighbouring town. The guilloche itself has been formed using the
sandstone setts salvaged from the original driveway, and the whole is
surrounded by a double course of silvery "Tan Tops", a Cornish granite
sourced from a reclamation yard. The infill pieces are a silver Egyptian
granite used to give us additional contrast. granite setts
this picture taken from the roof by Cookie of granite setts
Aco drains set to radius aprox 20m and start of european fan pattern with my templates
over view of cutting of setts to fan all cut by hand with masons chisel
As can be seen in this close-up shot of a single fan, the number of
cut setts is kept to an absolute minimum - we reckon on 6-8 per fan, and
these are predominantly simple trimming cuts rather than full dressing
cuts, so speed of laying is maintained as far as is practicable. Also
note how the outermost course of each fan has been laid using a
lighter-coloured sett. These are new white-grey Egyptian Granite setts,
with a basic cropped texture but as there is only the once course per
fan, that won't impede traffickability for pedestrians too greatly. What
it does do, however, is gently emphasise each fan as an individual.in granite setts
You can just make out the frame in the photo above. The full assembly
comprises a number of individual 'fans' that are bolted together to
ensure accuracy, and then set to level to guide precise position and
levelling of the setts as they are laid inside each 'frame'. There are
almost as many methods for laying sett fans as there are tradesmen
capable of doing the job properly, but this, for me, is the simplest,
speediest and least problematical method.
On the subject of ironwork, the cast iron gratings to the Aco Channel
Drain have now been fitted to the channel installed at the curving
boundary between the circular layout setts and the fan pattern. We're
really pleased with these, as the simple iron grating suits both the
property and the sett paving. You'd swear they'd been there since the
house was built, and by allowing them to follow the curve, they seem
such a natural break between the two layouts.
The fan pattern layout has really come into its own since they have
'spread out' over the widest section which shows off this pattern to its
best effect. This latest photo shows the progress albeit without the
paving to the recess tray (heavy duty 750x750 covers supplied by Clark
Drain) being completed, but the tray was only installed this morning, so
needs 24 hours to allow the bedding mortar to harden before it's loaded
with all those setts.Resin mortars are significantly faster to apply, and have the advantage
of leaving the pavement surface in pristine condition with no stains or
blemishes, but they ain’t particularly cheap. However, it seems silly
to spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar at this stage, so it was
decided, through gritted teeth (and mixed metaphors), to bite the bullet
and go with the resin mortar. After a lengthy discussion, UK supplier
of Romex mortars, McMonagle Stone, came up with a fair price for the
several tonnes of mortar that would be needed to fill the gaps between
all those setts (Cookie from The Original Stone Paving Co. reckons
there’s close on 48,000 of the buggers!)
this next link takes you to my website
granite setts
Front view 
400mm taken out the solid subsoil which was London clay 
Pegging out for drive height boards which we placed down to enable client to walk on
As this is a residential property, we had to take clients needs into consideration so provided a route for pram 
Gulley placed to take water off driveway with silt bucket
Leanmix concrete laid, lots of wet weather, London clay and rain = Glue and mess
Extra work ducting for garden lights
Existing wall removed, new footing and reclaimed stone used
Wall completed with reclaimed coping stones. Notice curve to coping, done on site
Setting bands to outside area
Bands are laid on 4:1 sharp sand cement
Bands and new walls to front door
Walls to front door and boards for client to walk on. Highly polished original floors in house.
New bullnosed steps and copings to front door
Start of sett laying on 4:1sand cement. Each sett laid and tapped in with lump hammer
Setts to corner where gulley is 
Sett laying going well, laid out behind us for easy selection 
Sunny day which means Cookie crew are happy
Instarmac flowpoint in garage, ready for pointing
Nearly at the end of the drive
To the pavement we installed ACO drain with cast iron grids. Water taken under wall to garden into suds crates with overflow into storm drain.
Ready for flowpoint
Pre-wetting before pointing
Flowpoint is set within 20 minutes, as you can see it is a clean finish
Garden makeover done and returned to its former glory
Jobs like this don't come along very often, and it's a real treat to be
involved in a project that will restore a property to its true former
glory, using original materials as far as possible, and celebrating the
skills of a genuine streetmason.
The photo above was the scene late on Saturday afternoon with
Cookie in the foreground laying the sandstone setts and Sean just behind
him fettling some of the Egyptian granite. In a frenetic nine-hour
shift, with just an hour for a barbecue lunch kindly provided by the
client, just over half of the guilloche was completed. 
this picture taken from the roof by Cookie of granite setts
