Limestone pavement took thousands of years to form, but it can be destroyed in hours. 

Once gone it is lost forever.

Limestone pavement stone, which is also known as water-worn limestone, has been used in garden rockeries since the last century.  In the last forty years damage has become more widespread and extensive areas have been relentlessly stripped with the aid of machinery. 

To many gardening enthusiasts, a rockery is still regarded as one of the most desirable features in any garden. Unfortunately, it is this continuing use of water-worn limestone in rockeries which threatens the very existence of limestone pavements and the special pants which live in them. Gardeners are often oblivious to the significance of its origins and the fact that one of the world's finest habitats is being destroyed. Alternatives such as sandstone, granite, slate or deep quarried limestone are readily available - and environmentally more acceptable.

Considerable damage has been done to the limestone pavements of the Burren,in Ireland, in recent times as a result of a new craze among visitors for building miniature monuments.  The damage is being caused primarily on shattered limestone pavement, where smaller pieces of limestone are used in the building process.  In some cases, larger pieces of limestone have been deliberately shattered to provide building materials.  Where stone can not readily be collected from the pavement, there are many examples of it having been taken indiscriminately from surrounding stone walls, so that the walls, which may date from ancient times, have also come under attack.