fan cobblestone pattern

[anevilgiraffe]

probably pointless question as I suspect I know the answer, but are fan pattern cobblestones more mainland Europe? I can't say as I've seen any here in the UK.

I may have stumbled on a decent surface for making a city board.

Also, does anyone have any idea on how the fans normally run when it comes to town squares? Do they radiate out from a central point? do they run in the same direction? whenever I google it, I get paving companies rather than an interesting history on the topic...

[tom q vaxy]

sorry i cannot help with the majority of your queries.

i worked for a guy who had a heated motorcourt (USA) of fanned cobblestones. after a couple of years, he traveled and came home with the realization his fans were too

great in breadth.

evidently, in Italy the fans are at the great point radius only as far as the mason can reach remaining stationary at the center.

think of Miguelangelo's Vitruvian diagram.

so the boss came home, ripped out the existing, and had it laid to his satisfaction.

[Daeothar]

I've come across them all over continental Europe actually. Usually in historical town centers, but I've walked across some outside of a huge shopping center in the midst of the Italian countryside too!

The ones I've seen are usually just edge to edge paving in a slightly more attractive pattern. But there have also been several that would radiate out from a statue or music stand in the middle of a (town) square.

To me at least, they've always been just a more fancy way of placing the stones, and there are other patterns too. From the top of my head I can recall a square in a small town in Slovenia that had cobble stones in repeating spiral patterns for instance.

So my impression is that you can use the patterns however you like...

[Tactalvanic]

agreed searching for cobbled examples of streets and market squares takes you all over Europe whilst ignoring most of UK or at least putting them so far down the results as not being there.

Most examples seen are of straight lined cobbling/random or with rounded pebbles such as the market town of Sandbach in Cheshire.

however

The cobbled square in the Yorkshire Dales village of Grassington, North Yorkshire UK has some circular layout to parts of it. but its not very square and not very big..

There are some examples about but likely history and city planning got rid of most of them over time?