A sett, also known as a block or Belgian block, is a broadly rectangular quarried stone used in paving roads and walkways. Formerly in widespread use, particularly on steeper streets because setts provided horses' hooves with better grip than a smooth surface, they are now encountered rather as decorative stone paving in landscape architecture. Setts are often referred to as "cobblestones", although a sett is distinct from a cobblestone in that it is quarried or worked to a regular shape, whereas the latter is generally a small, naturally-rounded rock.
Setts are usually made of granite.
Laying setts in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2013
Setts in pallet collars
The setts at the junction of Eden Street and Criffel Street in Silloth on Solway, Cumbria, UK
Samples of setts in Lysekil, Sweden, quarried and cut in Bohuslän, once a major producer of granite setts. The image has notations about the different types of setts; they can also be identified by an information board (in Swedish).
A road surface or pavement is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, macadam, hoggin, cobblestone and granite setts were extensively used, but these have mostly been replaced by asphalt or concrete laid on a compacted base course. Asphalt mixtures have been used in pavement construction since the beginning of the 20th century and are of two types: metalled (hard-surfaced) and unmetalled roads. Metalled roadways are made to sustain vehicular load and so are usually made on frequently used roads. Unmetalled roads, also known as gravel roads or dirt roads, are rough and can sustain less weight. Road surfaces are frequently marked to guide traffic.
A road being resurfaced using a road roller
Red surfacing for a bicycle lane in the Netherlands
Construction crew laying down asphalt over fiber-optic trench, in New York City
Old Roman road, leading from Jerusalem to Beit Gubrin, adjacent to regional highway 375 in Israel