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1993 112 Kentish Rag and Other Kent Building Stones Worssam.Pdf
http://kentarchaeology.org.uk/research/archaeologia-cantiana/ Kent Archaeological Society is a registered charity number 223382 © 2017 Kent Archaeological Society KENTISH RAG AND OTHER KENT BUILDING STONES BERNARD C. WORSSAM and TIM TATTON-BROWN The name Kentish Rag, or Ragstone, suggests a building stone suitable only for rough walling purposes, a view expressed, for example, by Howe (1910, 264), who wrote of Kentish Rag: 'It has been extensively used in churches in the Home Counties in the form of random and coursed work; it cannot be dressed . .' From earlier periods than Howe's time of writing there are, however, many examples of dressed stonework as well as of ashlar and window tracery in Kentish Rag. It is one purpose of this paper to draw attention to the varied ways in which the stone has been used from time to time. Kentish Rag varies in lithology along its outcrop, such that it is possible in the case of many buildings to deduce the location from which their stone has been derived. Certain Middlesex churches (Robinson and Worssam 1990) provide instances. The paper, therefore, starts with an account of the geology of Kentish Rag. Descriptions are also included of three types of stone with some resemblance to Kentish Rag: the well-known Reigate stone, from Surrey; Folkestone stone, which is rarely recognised as a building stone; and Thanet Beds sandstone from east Kent, so little regarded that it has no familiar local name. THE GEOLOGY OF KENTISH BUILDING STONES Kentish Rag occurs in the Hythe Beds formation, which is part of the Lower Greensand, a group of formations of Lower Cretaceous age (see Table 1). -
This Walk Has Been Commissioned by Artangel As Part of A
Urban Geology in London No. 29 This walk has been commissioned by Artangel as part of a programme of events surrounding artist Katrina Palmer’s project on the Isle of Portland and on BBC Radio 4, End Matter. This takes place in April-May 2015. The walk took place on 30th May 2015. London does not have a good local building stone. The Roman and Medieval city was built of Kentish Ragstone and Reigate Stone. Later, the abundant clays and brickearths of the local geology were exploited and stock brick became the city’s main building material. Bath Stone was brought in for some structures. However monumental buildings befitting of a capital required something special, and Portland Stone from Dorset became popular in the early 17th Century and remains London’s iconic stone to this day. There are thousands of buildings in London built of Portland Stone and many others in the maJor cities of the British Isles. One may consider St Paul’s Cathedral, the maJority of the buildings on Whitehall including the Cenotaph and the Banqueting House, The Royal Naval College at Greenwich, The Bank of England, The British Museum, The National Gallery and indeed my home institution, University College London. The stone has also been exported world-wide, mainly to commonwealth countries and the USA. Here we may count amongst several Portland Stone structures the United Nations Building (1952) in New York City. Auckland’s War Memorial Museum in New Zealand probably represents the use of this material most distant from the source. Portland Stone is also the standard for the Commonwealth war grave memorials. -
The Building Stones of South East England; Mineralogy and Provenance
CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by NERC Open Research Archive THE BUILDING STONES OF SOUTH EAST ENGLAND; MINERALOGY AND PROVENANCE Graham Lott and Don Cameron British Geological Survey, [email protected] [email protected] Abstract The South East of England (London, Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire), is characterized by a range of distinctive, traditional vernacular buildings. Stone from the local strata, which ranges from Late Jurassic to Palaeogene in age, has been widely used throughout the area for building purposes (footings, walling, roofing) and was also frequently imported into London, which itself has no building stone resource of any significance cropping out within its boundaries. Determining the provenance of some of these stones, away from their local context, however, can be difficult, but is greatly facilitated by studying their mineralogy, textures and fabrics under the microscope. Keywords: England, Lower Cretaceous, Petrography, Building Stone, Introduction The South East of England area (Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire) is well known for its extensive stock of traditional vernacular buildings. These buildings incorporate a wide range of local building materials including wood, brick and stone. Stone, in particular, is widely used throughout the area as footings, walling and roofing material in many local buildings. Stone was also extensively imported into the City of London which has no building stone of any significance cropping out within its boundaries. The building stones that were worked and used in vernacular buildings were all sourced from local rocks ranging from Late Jurassic to Palaeogene in age. Without, however, considerable and wide ranging local experience in their study, they are often difficult to distinguish one from another in a building. -
Winchester Stone by Dr John Parker (PDF)
Winchester Stone by John Parker ©2016 Dr John Parker studied geology at Birmingham and Cambridge universities. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London. For over 30 years he worked as an exploration geologist for Shell around the world. He has lived in Winchester since 1987. On retirement he trained to be a Cathedral guide. The Building of Winchester Cathedral – model in the Musée de la Tapisserie, Bayeux 1 Contents Introduction page 3 Geological background 5 Summary of the stratigraphic succession 8 Building in Winchester Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon periods 11 Early medieval period (1066-1350) 12 Later medieval period (1350-1525) 18 16th to 18th century 23 19th to 21st century 24 Principal stone types 28 Chalk, clunch and flint 29 Oolite 30 Quarr 31 Caen 33 Purbeck 34 Beer 35 Upper Greensand 36 Portland 38 Other stones 40 Weldon 40 Chilmark 41 Doulting 41 French limestones 42 Coade Stone 42 Decorative stones, paving and monuments 43 Tournai Marble 43 Ledger stones and paving 44 Alabaster 45 Jerusalem stone 45 Choice of stone 46 Quarries 47 A personal postscript 48 Bibliography and References 50 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Photographs and diagrams are by the author, unless otherwise indicated 2 Introduction Winchester lies in an area virtually devoid of building stone. The city is on the southern edge of the South Downs, a pronounced upland area extending from Salisbury Plain in the west to Beachy Head in the east (Figs. 1 & 2). The bedrock of the Downs is the Upper Cretaceous Chalk (Fig. 3), a soft friable limestone unsuited for major building work, despite forming impressive cliffs along the Sussex coast to the east of Brighton. -
Windsor Castle - the West Curtain Towers
Windsor Castle - The West Curtain Towers Windsor Castle The West Curtain Towers Neil Guy The basement of the Windsor Curfew Tower c. 1227-30+ Once a powerful defensive and residential tower. The tower has two floors above the basement, at least one of which was also once equipped with wide, straight-sided, arrow-loop embrasures. Walls are 13ft (4m) thick at the base and the spacious basement chamber is 32ft (9.75m) long (east-west) by 22½ ft (6.86m) wide (north-south). THE CASTLE STUDIES GROUP JOURNALTHE NO CASTLE 29: 2015-16 STUDIES GROUP JOURNAL NO 33: 2019-20 235 Windsor Castle - The West Curtain Towers - earliest views Windsor Castle - The West Curtain of buildings in the Lower Ward as they may Towers - earliest views have looked in c. 1327, as drawn (from These first four introductory pages set out a documentary sources) by Tim Tatton-Brown chronological overview of the depiction by for ‘Edward III's Round Table at Windsor’, various artists of the west curtain at Windsor but Hollar, c. 1658 delineates a fairly accurate castle as seen after its completion (c. 1240). bird’s eye view (figs. 5-7) from the south and The earliest known is John Blacman c. 1440 west showing the relative heights of each (fig.1). Norden adds further detail in 1607 tower in his day. The little known Francis (fig. 2), shown from the north, like Blacman. Place sketch is shown (fig. 33), of uncertain Fig. 3 shows a plan of the likely disposition date. It post-dates Hollar and could be c. -
Surrey's Extractive Industries
SURREY’S INDUSTRIAL PAST 7 EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES [Page 4] Chapter 2 SURREY’S EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES Extractive industries — the digging of chalk, clay, sand English Channel and northern France, and a ridge of and gravel, flint and building stone, fullers earth and high land ran across what is now London. A tropical iron ore — and the lime works, brick works, iron and swampy river delta, in which dinosaurs lived, extend- glass works which depended on them, have been the ed into Hampshire and material washed into this area most widespread of Surrey's industries. Most are now became the Hastings Beds and, overlying them, the extinct. The Wealden iron and glass industries have Wealden Clay. The sea overran the Weald and sedi- long since disappeared and at the end of the twenti- ments which settled on the bottom became our pre- eth century stone quarrying, fuller’s earth and chalk sent Lower Greensand, Gault Clay and Upper Green- extraction are about to join them. Environmental con- sand. The Chalk came next, laid down in seas far from siderations limit sand and gravel digging and even land as a white calcareous mud. Chalk as we know it brick works are declining in number. Despite this, dis- today is composed mainly of calcium carbonate de- turbed ground, lakes, tracks, place names, workers’ rived from the calcite plates which protected micro- cottages and even whole villages will for long provide scopic planktonic algae, the rest being made up of a reminder of these once significant industries. Count- microscopic fossils or shell fragments. The Upper Cre- less small pits, ponds and scars on the landscape date taceous period, during which the chalk was laid down, back as far as history. -
Mineral Resources Map for Surrey
60 70 80 905 00000 10 20 30 40 50 60 FULLER’S EARTH BRICK CLAY BUILDING STONE CHALK BGS publications covering Surrey and the London Boroughs of Croydon, Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton The term 'fuller's earth' is used to describe clays composed essentially of the clay mineral The term 'Brick clay' is used to describe clay used predominantly in the manufacture of bricks Rocks of Lower Cretaceous age have been important source of building stone in Surrey. Chalk is a relatively soft, fine-grained, white limestone, consisting mostly of the debris of calcium-smectite, which exhibits a unique combination of properties on which its industrial and, to a lesser extent, roof tiles and clay pipes. These clays may sometimes be used in cement Sandstones from the Lower Greensand Group were quarried for local use around Godalming, at planktonic algae. In Surrey, it forms the prominent natural feature of the North Downs. Almost the applications are based. Calcium-smectite can be easily converted into sodium-smectite manufacture, as a source of construction fill and for lining and sealing landfill sites. The suitability Hurtmore (working material known as 'Bargate Stone'), and at Witley and Hurtwood. Ironstone entire outcrop of the chalk is within the Surrey Hills AONB. The Chalk is divided into the Grey 285 1:63 360 and 1:50 000 (bentonite) by a simple sodium-exchange process and most fuller's earth is used in this form in of a clay for the manufacture of bricks depends principally on its behaviour during shaping, drying beds within the Lower Greensand (known as 'carstone') were also once a source of local building Chalk Sub-Group, and the White Chalk Sub-Group and is up to 320 m thick in this part of South 269 HOUNSLOW 270 271 map published papermaking and foundry bonding applications. -
The Mediaeval Mason : Relation to Church ; Free the Assembly of the Later Versions of the Old Charges
THE MEDIBVAL MASON AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF ENGLISH STONE BUILDING IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES AND EARLY MODERN TIMES DOUGLAS KNOOP, M.A., Hon. A.R.I.B.A. Emerrtus Professor of Economics in the Universiv of Shefield AND G. P. JONES, M.A., Litt.D. Professor of Economics in the University of SheBrld MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS PREFACE THE first three chapters of this book deal chiefly with the economic history of the stone-building industry in England during the later Middle Ages and attempt a picture of the conditions underwhich the mediaval mason worked and lived. In the three chapters that follow, various economic problems ccntring round the mediaval mason-whether freemason, hewer, roughmason or layer-are examined, and in the seventh and final chapter the changes in the economic con- ditions of the industry during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are described. Published by the University of Manchester at Our investigation is based on all the printed materials, THE UNlVERSITY PRESS (H. M. MCKECHNIE,M.A., Secretary) especially building accounts, we have been able to gather 8-10 Wright Street, MANCHESTER, 15 and on a first-hand examination of manuscript records relating to certain large building operations. The inforrna- tion has been used in two series of papers. The first series deals with the building of Vale Royal Abbey, 1278-1280 ; Beaumaris and Caernarvon Castles in the early fourteenth century ; Eton College, 1442-1460, and London Bridge, more especially in the fifteenth century. The Vale Royal paper has recently appeared, and the others will follow it, in Ars Quatuor Coro~zatorum (the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Freemasons, No. -
Building and Roofing Stone Mineral Planning Factsheet
Mineral Planning Factsheet Building and roofing stone This factsheet pro- atural stone is the traditional building tions since that time. Nevertheless many for- vides an overview Nmaterial of Britain and the built environ- mer important sources of building stone are no of natural build- ment is perhaps the most visible aspect of longer available. ing and roofing our cultural heritage. Stone has been used stone, including for building and roofing purposes in the UK Building and roofing stones, including slate, slate, extraction for over two thousand years and the geo- are naturally-occurring rocks of igneous, sedi- in the UK. It forms logical diversity of the country has meant that mentary or metamorphic origin which are suf- part of a series the variety of the rock types used is prob- ficiently consolidated to enable them to be cut, on economically ably unmatched anywhere else in the world. shaped, or split into blocks or slabs for use as important minerals Production and usage of these stones has seen walling, paving or roofing materials in the con- that are extracted a decline, since the highpoint of the industry in struction of buildings and other structures, such in Britain and is pri- the late 19th century, largely because of compe- as bridges and monuments. The term natural marily intended to tition from cheaper manufactured alternatives stone does not include manufactured products, inform the land-use such as brick, concrete, glass and steel. As a such as reconstituted stone or ‘artificial’ stone, planning process. result many local sources of building stone are although these are an increasingly important no longer available. -
1 Sourcing Stone for the Conservation and Repair of the Buildings
Sourcing stone for the conservation and repair of the buildings and monuments of Britain Graham Lott Abstract Stone for the construction of buildings and monuments has been locally quarried from most parts of Britain’s lithologically diverse geological succession for the last 3500 yrs. Each part of the geological column, from the Precambrian to Quaternary, has yielded stone for building providing a colourful palette of stones for Britain’s stone architecture and monuments. For those involved in conserving these structures this diversity of stone types has itself become an increasing problem as many of the original quarries have long since stopped working and the stones disappeared from the marketplace. This lack of an adequate range of indigenous stones suitable for conservation repair and for sympathetic new build projects is an ongoing concern for heritage organisations, property owners and developers in Britain. There are a number of ways in which this problem is being addressed. It is clearly important to demonstrate the scale of the problem by collating sufficient information to identify those stones (and therefore those stone structures) most under threat. While some vernacular stones were used widely others often only appear in a small number of buildings. A national database of all indigenous stone sources used and an assessment of their extent of use is therefore essential. Subsequent analysis of the data gathered will then allow the identification of those stones which are of critical concern and which might then generate sufficient interest and economic potential for quarry operators to consider re‐opening sites for new stone production. This review is an attempt to give an overview of the former extent of the building stone resources of Britain to illustrate the extent of the current problems of stone supply. -
REIGATE STONE TRIALS September 2002
M C C M A T E R I A L S, I N C. IRVING SLAVID PROF. NORMAN R. WEISS REIGATE STONE TRIALS September 2002 Winchester Palace HM Tower of London Westminster Abbey Hampton Court Palace P.O. BOX 6, COLEBROOK, CT 06021 860 379 2462 fax 860 379 9219 M C C M A T E R I A L S, I N C. IRVING SLAVID PROF. NORMAN R. WEISS REIGATE STONE TRIALS September 2002 Winchester Palace HM Tower of London Westminster Abbey Hampton Court Palace TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1. Introduction 1 2. Reigate stone 5 3. HCT fundamentals 8 4. Laboratory evaluation of treatment 10 5. Field application/Evaluation 17 5.1 Winchester Palace 17 5.2a Bell Tower, HM Tower of London 21 5.2b Mock-up wall, HM Tower of London 23 5.3 Westminster Abbey 26 5.4a Hampton Court Palace 30 5.4b Mock-up wall, Hampton Court Palace 32 Appendix 1 Conservation of Reigate stone at Hampton Court Palace and HM Tower of London Appendix 2 Product data and material safety data sheets for HCT Appendix 3 Venice article Appendix 4 Seville draft P.O. BOX 6, COLEBROOK, CT 06021 860 379 2462 fax 860 379 9219 M C C M A T E R I A L S, I N C. IRVING SLAVID PROF. NORMAN R. WEISS 1. Introduction This report summarizes a multi-year project on the conservation treatment of Reigate stone, undertaken by MCC Materials, Inc. (Colebrook, Connecticut, USA) for a consortium consisting of Historic Royal Palaces, Westminster Abbey and English Heritage. -
Stone Conservation: an Overview of Current Research
research in conservation in research The Getty Conservation Institute Los Angeles Stone Conservation An Overview of Current Research Second Edition Eric Doehne and Clifford A. Price 2010 PROOF 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Getty Conservation Institute Timothy P. Whalen, Director Jeanne Marie Teutonico, Associate Director, Programs The Getty Conservation Institute works internationally to advance conservation practice in the visual arts—broadly interpreted to include objects, collections, architecture, and sites. The Institute serves the conservation community through scientific research, education and training, model field projects, and the dissemina- tion of the results of both its own work and the work of others in the field. In all its endeavors, the GCI focuses on the creation and delivery of knowledge that will benefit the professionals and organizations responsible for the conservation of the world’s cultural heritage. Research in Conservation The Research in Conservation reference series presents the finding of research conducted by the Getty Conservation Institute and its individual and institutional research partners, as well as state-of-the-art reviews of conservation literature. Each volume covers a topic of current interest to conservator and conservation scientist. Other volumes in the Research in Conservation series include Alkoxysilanes and the Consolidation of Stone (Wheeler 2005), Analysis of Modern Paints (Learner 2004), Effects of Light on Materials in Collections (Schaeffer 2001), Inert Gases in the Control of Museum Insect Pests (Selwitz and Maekawa 1998), Oxygen-Free Museum Cases (Maekawa 1998), Accelerated Aging: Photochemical and Thermal Aspects (Feller 1994), and Statistical Analysis in Art Conservation Research (Reedy and Reedy 1988). © 2010 J.