Surveys of selected listed stone buildings and monuments from all over Northern Ireland were carried out from 2005 to 2007. Electronic and hard copies of all survey sheets and digital images taken are held by the Project Team and EHS.

Approximately 1,800 listed building and 265 monuments were included in the Natural Stone Database for Northern Ireland and the majority of these stone structures have been included on this website.

Were possible, small samples of stone were obtained from some to the buildings (~400 samples) and these samples were thin sectioned at Queen's University to provide a referenced collection of building samples which is stored by the Project Team. Thin sections (thin slices of stone approximately 30 microns thick) can be viewed using a petrological microscope for identification of stone materials (mineralogy and texture) and matching samples to original stone quarries and used for the selection potential replacement samples.

The Buildings are classified by County with a separate category for Belfast City.