Kilkenny marble is a dark limestone. This beautiful stone is flecked with the pale remains of fossilized shells, corals and sea lilies. It was formed in the geological period known as the carboniferous over 350million years ago. At this time tropical seas covered the area which is now Ireland. The shell remains of sea creatures fell to the sea floor and over millions of years became compressed into this most beautiful dark stone. Kilkenny marble has been quarried in Kilkenny since the 17th century. Much of it was used to pave the city and so gives Kilkenny its name “The Marble City”. At the All That Glisters workshop in Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny Sue Bowden and her team design and make beautiful jewelry from Kilkenny marble quarried only 10 miles away.