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Bath stone
Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England, its distinctive appearance. An important feature of Bath Stone is that it is a 'freestone', so-called because it can be sawn or 'squared up' in any direction, unlike other rocks such as slate, which form distinct layers.
Bath Stone has been used extensively as a building material throughout southern England, for churches, houses, and public buildings such as railway stations.
Some quarries are still in use, but the majority have been converted to other purposes or are being filled in.
Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate laid down during the Jurassic Period (195 to 135 million years ago) when the region that is now Bath was under a shallow sea. Layers of marine sediment were deposited, and individual spherical grains were coated with lime as they rolled around the sea bed, forming the Bathonian Series of rocks. Under the microscope, these grains or ooliths (egg stones) are sedimentary rock formed from ooids: spherical grains composed of concentric layers. That name derives from the Hellenic word òoion for egg. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 mm. Rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites. They frequently contain minute fragments of shell or rock, and sometimes even decayed skeletons of marine life. Bath Stone was taken from the Bath Oolite Member and the Combe Down Member of the Chalfield Oolite Formation, part of the Great Oolite Group.
An important feature of Bath Stone is that it is a freestone, one that can be sawn or 'squared up' in any direction, unlike other rocks such as slate, which have distinct layers. In the Roman and medieval periods, Bath Stone was extensively used on domestic and ecclesiastical buildings, as well as civil engineering projects such as bridges.
The Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, which was founded in 1738, was designed by John Wood the Elder and built with Bath Stone. There is a fine pediment on the building, again in Bath Stone, which depicts the parable of the good Samaritan.
St Stephen’s Church on Lansdown Hill, Bath, was constructed from a limestone sourced from the Limpley Stoke mine, south of the city.
The material has also been used widely outside Bath itself. Claverton Pumping Station at Claverton, which was built of Bath Stone in about 1810, pumps water from the River Avon to the Kennet and Avon Canal, using power from the flow of the River Avon. The stone was also used for the Dundas Aqueduct, which is 150 yards (137.2 m) long, and has three arches built of Bath Stone, with Doric pilasters, and balustrades at each end.
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Bath stone
Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England, its distinctive appearance. An important feature of Bath Stone is that it is a 'freestone', so-called because it can be sawn or 'squared up' in any direction, unlike other rocks such as slate, which form distinct layers.
Bath Stone has been used extensively as a building material throughout southern England, for churches, houses, and public buildings such as railway stations.
Some quarries are still in use, but the majority have been converted to other purposes or are being filled in.
Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate laid down during the Jurassic Period (195 to 135 million years ago) when the region that is now Bath was under a shallow sea. Layers of marine sediment were deposited, and individual spherical grains were coated with lime as they rolled around the sea bed, forming the Bathonian Series of rocks. Under the microscope, these grains or ooliths (egg stones) are sedimentary rock formed from ooids: spherical grains composed of concentric layers. That name derives from the Hellenic word òoion for egg. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 mm. Rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites. They frequently contain minute fragments of shell or rock, and sometimes even decayed skeletons of marine life. Bath Stone was taken from the Bath Oolite Member and the Combe Down Member of the Chalfield Oolite Formation, part of the Great Oolite Group.
An important feature of Bath Stone is that it is a freestone, one that can be sawn or 'squared up' in any direction, unlike other rocks such as slate, which have distinct layers. In the Roman and medieval periods, Bath Stone was extensively used on domestic and ecclesiastical buildings, as well as civil engineering projects such as bridges.
The Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, which was founded in 1738, was designed by John Wood the Elder and built with Bath Stone. There is a fine pediment on the building, again in Bath Stone, which depicts the parable of the good Samaritan.
St Stephen’s Church on Lansdown Hill, Bath, was constructed from a limestone sourced from the Limpley Stoke mine, south of the city.
The material has also been used widely outside Bath itself. Claverton Pumping Station at Claverton, which was built of Bath Stone in about 1810, pumps water from the River Avon to the Kennet and Avon Canal, using power from the flow of the River Avon. The stone was also used for the Dundas Aqueduct, which is 150 yards (137.2 m) long, and has three arches built of Bath Stone, with Doric pilasters, and balustrades at each end.