The stones needed no special conservation treatment, just a wash and brush to clean them up. They were then ready for study. A geologist identified the stone as a partly coarse-grained sandstone, typically found in Millstone Grit which occurs in the Pennines. The nearest outcrops to York are between the Thorner and Follifoot areas near to Harrogate.

Next, the querns were studied by an artefact researcher who noted that both stones had smooth areas on the surfaces which ground against each other. Both had a large central perforation for a spindle around which the upper stone was turned. The upper stone also had a flange around the perforation on its upper face which acted as a funnel for the grain, and grooves each side on the lower surface which may have originally held a 'rynd', now lost. The rynd would have been a strip, perhaps of wood, with a central hole which fitted over the spindle.

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