In Latvia, when creating a gravestone for the resting place of their loved ones, people deliberately seek out and choose fieldstone. In the past, fieldstone was the only freely available granite material, and it was widely used both in building and in making monuments; it is found in fields, in the ground, in riverbeds and along the seashore.
Today, too, if you wish to create a truly valuable grave design that is elegantly simple yet monumental and lasting, fieldstone is the most suitable choice.
Landscaping of a large family burial plot in Baldone Cemetery. In 2022 a full reconstruction was carried out, with a new gravestone made from Latvian fieldstone and borders in Scandinavian BOXUS GREY granite to enclose the perimeter of the plot and form the grave border. A planting bed, also made of decorative Latvian fieldstones, was created in the left-hand corner of the plot.
The monument is made from a sawn fieldstone that keeps its natural “back”; it is 1.7 m high and 1.9 m wide. In total it weighs more than a tonne. The polished front face reveals the base tone of the fieldstone with its unique veining, its “pattern”. The engravings on the gravestone were done by hand engraving and are 1.5 cm deep.
The fieldstone monument keeps its natural “back”, which also creates a sense of the primeval and of solidity. Fieldstone monuments like this fit very harmoniously into the overall landscape of the cemetery. Baldone Cemetery has many very tastefully designed graves, and this is one of them.
Scandinavian Boxus Grey granite was used for the grave borders of the ensemble. The plot is covered with washed gravel topped with a thin layer of fine dolomite chippings, which stops the gravel from splashing onto the borders while keeping the plot easy to tend with a rake.
As fieldstone is mostly in calm tones - grey, greyish brown, reddish brown, with lighter veining - it can be combined perfectly with industrially quarried granites such as
There are, of course, other very suitable and beautiful granites that can be combined with Latvian fieldstone - ask us, and we will certainly find the one that best suits your taste.
Bear in mind that if you choose to include fieldstone in your loved ones' resting place, the work will take longer than for a memorial ensemble made of industrial granite. This is because a suitable fieldstone has to be found for the specific purpose. The colour range, the texture and the unique pattern must all match so that the stone can “speak”, and the stone must also be checked for cracks.
Bear in mind, too, that such a grave design costs more than designs made of industrial granite. This is due to the particular difficulty of transporting and working fieldstone, which requires more labour and machinery. It is also advisable to have the engravings done by a stonemason using hand engraving, which is a more expensive method of engraving.
All in all, it is worth it, because this is how the most beautiful memorial stones are made - unrepeatable, with a sense of eternity.
You can see other work in Latvian fieldstone here.