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Every now and then, I receive a few photographs of an old
building – or fragments of stone in the post – along with a request to help
with the identification of the stone used in its construction, ahead of a
programme of restoration work.
Having devised Triton's stone library, with samples
from all over the UK - for day to day stone
matching purposes - I was very curious when I received photographs of various chimney
stacks at a large red brick Victorian house.
In contrast to the Ham Hill stone, which is heavily
weathered, the stone in question still retains
sharp lines to the mouldings and appears remarkably clean - revealing its distinctive colour.
Having been categorically assured that it was a
limestone, my first thought was that it could be a Jurassic oolite from the
Cotswolds.
Compared to the many geologically
similar samples of “Bath stone” and “Lincolnshire limestone” that are now buried
in a landfill site - but which once formed part of my own private collection - the large cube that I once obtained from this region stood
out just for its colour. A quick look through a couple of reference books
reinforced my initial thoughts that this might possibly be Guiting stone.
Although planned for inclusion in the Triton Stone
Library, samples were never received and - except for the
Permian dolomitic limestone that has replaced it - none of the samples are a good colour match for the stone that has been salvaged from one of the
collapsed chimneys.
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