Polished Black Granite

‘Polished Black Granite’ is a general term covering a variety of imported black stone types commonly used as polished stone in the United Kingdom for decorative purposes. Many of these are not in fact granites but gabbros or dolerites; however, many trade names use the term ‘granite’. They include a variety of Gabbros from South Africa, Scotland etc., some varieties of granite that are dark in colour and Norwegian Larvikite which can also be referred to as black granite on occasions.

All of these stones are similar in appearance when polished (dark grey to black with a variety of grain sizes) and source of origin can therefore be difficult to determine unless historical records are available and name the quarry source.