OneGuyFromBarlick

If nobody gets it I'll knock it on the head later today.
Clue, named after a creature......

Sally says it's a Beetle Crusher.

Sorry no. See THIS for an explanation. It's a salamander and was used for locally browning food.

What can you tell me about this?

Fan for a forge?

It's a fan all right but I think for winnowing grain rather than a forge.

Spot on Stanley, spotted in France.

Oh good! I shall retire to bed and think of another one.....

What is it?

A rock composed of at least two minerals, one black and one white!
Gabbro looks like that but so do some other types of rock.

I don't know enough to be able to say whether you're right or not Peter. My information is that this is 'Diorite'.
Does that make sense? Described as one of the hardest rocks in the world....

"Used to make the lining for ball mills...."

As I can't give a definitive answer to the 'mystery'. I think we should have another object.....

What is going on here?

Some sort of very large kiln.

Is it a cheese store Gloria?

Neither of you are anywhere near.

Gloria, is it a display or store of ready-cut stone or timber items that will be used for carving?

Stanley, diorite would have been my next guess. Geologists are always faced with the problem that the appearance of the same rock type from two different locations can show a bigger difference than from other rock types. In other words the appearance of rock types overlap and geologists always want to know the location they came from. Gabbro and diorite are both very hard and I imagine both would be of use in a ball mill. Dolerite is another hard rock, often used as roadstone, but it isn't spotty like the other two and often has a greenish appearance.

I think I know, it's a bit like Mother Shipton's Cave in Knaresborough. There's a mineral rich spring that flows over the stuff on the shelves and 'petrifies' it.

Well done Kev, right process, different place, it’s in France.
https://www.fontaines-petrifiantes.fr/e ... /the-tour/

That was a good one!

How about this?

I'm assaulting it's a detail from an image under a microscope. Can't make any sense of it..

You're on the right track with microscope.

Looks like a keyhole.