Your recent memories of Terminal 2 might not be entirely positive but when it opened in 1955 The Europa Building (as it was then called) was a showcase for British design with Robin Day furniture and Peggy Angus tiles, and architecture by Sir Frederick Gibberd.
The concourse was floored in about 2000 square metres of Hopton Wood limestone, quarried near Matlock, on the edge of The Peak District. The quarry is now nearly exhausted.
The Heathrow stone is laid in 18inch (450mm) wide strips and random lengths (from 100 to 1000mm long). Average thickness is about 30mm.
Hopton Wood stone was quarried from about 1750. It has been used for interiors in numerous important buildings including The Royal Festival Hall, Chatsworth House, Windsor Castle, Houses of Parliament, the Bank of England and many cathedrals. Utilised for flooring, chimneypieces, carved decoration, as well as sculpture; Jacob Epstein used a twenty-ton block of Hopton Wood for his tomb of Oscar Wilde (1912) in Père Lachaise Cemetery Paris, and other modern British sculptors who have used it include Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore.
It has always been one of our favourite stones...