This guide describes Rutland's local building stones in their geological context. It includes examples of buildings and structures where the stones have been used. Rutland's ferruginous sandstones and ironstones have commonly been used for building throughout the county, and two of its limestones (at Ketton and Clipsham) provide building stones of both local and national importance. Rutland is a rural county and it has seen very little large-scale industrial growth. The development of the two main market towns, Oakham and Uppingham, has been confined by conservation area policies. This has meant that a lot of the county's stone-built village character has been retained. Apart from Oakham Castle and the Bishops of Lincoln's house at Lyddington, little medieval stone architecture of importance has survived in the county. However, there are still many good examples of smaller stone manor houses, yeomen's dwellings and cottages from the late 16th and 17th centuries. In the past, almost every town and village had its own quarry, and many of the buildings are a reflection of their underlying geology.