Replacing old stone flags

Phred · Post: # 6284Post **Phred** Sun Oct 24, 2004 1:24 pm

I am researching the replacement of a stone floor in an old Victorian greenhouse. The existing flags were obviously laid on a poor base, the vast majority of the 200 or so being cracked in many places and several have subsided to a dangerous degree.
Being as we are in Guernsey, the floor may well be Caen stone, but this is not too important.
My main question, for the sake of historical accuracy is- can anyone tell me if a dimension of 12 1/2" square is/was a standard ?

Post: # 6289Post **Tony McC** Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:07 pm

Not as far as I know. Maybe it's a French thing, if the flags are Caen stone. I could understand a 12" square, but 12Â½" is a bit of a funnyosity.

Phred · Post: # 6290Post **Phred** Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:35 pm

Thanks for your thoughts, and what a delightful new (to me) word!

Post: # 6291Post **Tony McC** Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:12 pm

Lancashire dialect, I think.

Phred · Post: # 6303Post **Phred** Mon Oct 25, 2004 4:14 pm

I think the answer will be that if Guernsey ordered foot-square slabs of french stone, around 1900, what they may well have got is French feet = 1.07app English feet, which roughly would be 12 1/2 inches.

Post: # 6306Post **Tony McC** Mon Oct 25, 2004 4:58 pm

I didn't know there was a difference between French feet and Imperial - I thought they were metric by 1900?

They say you learn summat new every day!