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Cobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobble", the diminutive of the archaic English word "cob", meaning "rounded lump", originally referred to any small stone rounded by the flow of water; essentially, a large pebble. It was these smooth "cobbles", gathered from stream beds, that paved the first "cobblestone" streets. In England, it was commonplace since ancient times for flat stones with a flat narrow edge to be set on edge to provide an even paved surface. This was known as a 'pitched' surface and was common all over Britain, as it did not require rounded pebbles. Pitched surfaces predate the use of regularly-sized granite setts by more than a thousand years. Such pitched paving is quite distinct from that formed from rounded stones, although both forms are commonly referred to as 'cobbled' surfaces. Most surviving genuinely old 'cobbled' areas are in reality pitched surfaces. Setts are often idiomatically referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct from a cobblestone by being quarried or shaped to a regular form, whereas cobblestone is generally of a naturally occurring form.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Setts & Cubes: Introduction )〕 ''Cobble'' is a generic geological term for any stone having dimensions between . A cobbled area is known as a "causey", "cassay" or "cassie" in Scots (probably from ''causeway'').〔Scottish National Dictionary Association (1999) ''Concise Scots Dictionary ''. Edinburgh, Polygon. ISBN 1-902930-01-0〕 ==Use in roading== Cobblestones are typically either set in sand or similar material, or are bound together with mortar. Paving with cobblestones allows a road to be heavily used all year long. It prevents the build-up of ruts often found in dirt roads. It has the additional advantage of not getting muddy in wet weather or dusty in dry weather. Shod horses are also able to get better traction on stone cobbles, pitches or setts than tarmac/asphalt. The fact that carriage wheels, horse hooves and even modern automobiles make a lot of noise when rolling over cobblestone paving might be thought a disadvantage, but it has the advantage of warning pedestrians of their approach. In England, the custom was to strew the cobbles outside the house of a sick or dying person with straw to dampen the sound. Cobblestones set in sand have the environmental advantage of being permeable paving, and of moving rather than cracking with movements in the ground. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「cobblestone」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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