THE origins of some of the earnest prestige buildings in Northallerton have been tracked down by a local geologist and historian.

John Parkinson, the recently-elected chairman of Northallerton and District Local History Society, has an abiding interest in how, over the centuries, man has utilised the Earth’s natural resources.

And at the society’s first open meeting of 2010 he will be making the first public presentation of his discovery of the sledways, previously lost to history, which enabled sandstone to be used for construction in the town.

Northallerton is located on the glacial till of the Vale of Mowbray where the only mineral readily available for building is clay, which was first used for making bricks locally only in the late 16th-century.

Yet before that time, prestigious structures in the town, such as the Bishop of Durham’s castle and the Carmelite friary, had been constructed of sandstone blocks, many of which can still be seen re-utilised in modern buildings.

But it has always been puzzle just where medieval masons obtained that stone and how was it brought to a town lacking a navigable waterway.

Now, combining diligent documentary and field research, Mr Parkinson has identified the long-disused quarries where the stone was roughly shaped and the carefully-engineered inclines down which the blocks were manually moved by sledge before being transported by cart.

The meeting will take place at the Sacred Heart Church Hall on Thirsk Road, Northallerton at 7pm on January 19.

Non-members are welcome to attend at a nominal admission charge of £2, while students under 18 will be admitted free.