Building Stones in Worksop - Part 1

Worksop Priory Gatehouse

At the end of my walk from Shireoaks to Worksop, along the Chesterfield Canal, a stretch of walling on the opposite side to the tow path at Matalan caught my eye because - along with the adjacent and overlying masonry - it is built of a stone that is very unlike the dolomitic limestone that has been used in the locks and bridges that I had so far seen along the canal.

 

Dolomitic limestone opposite Canal Road

 

Being unable to examine it, I carried on along Canal Road until I reached Kilton Road, where I noticed the former Royal George public house, which is set immediately next to the canal bridge. It is built in dolomitic limestone, brick and another stone that I did not obviously recognise and I couldn't safely investigate with my hand lens, steel knife and hydrochloric acid.

 

An agricultural building on Kilton Road

Nottinghamshire is underlain mainly by Triassic rocks, from which only the Keuper Waterstones and Skerry Sandstone from the Mercia Mudstone Group have been widely quarried for local use, but the British Geological Survey map of old building stone quarries doesn’t show any in the vicinity of Worksop.

 

Building stone quarries in Nottinghamshire

On the opposite side of the road, a C19 red brick built old brewery has dressings of another yellow coloured stone, which this time I positively identified as the Permian dolomitic sandstone known as White Mansfield stone.

 

Dressings in White Mansfield stone

Now unavailable, I once spent a few months sawing this stone at the Gregory's Quarry and the green clay beds within it are typically differentially weathered to leave a texture like old wrinkled leather. This stone was used widely in the East Midlands and gained a national reputation in the C19 and, in Worksop, it has been used for the modern extension to Worksop Priory.

 

Weathering of clay beds in White Mansfield stone

Continuing my exploration of Worksop, I walked down Priorswell Road past the River Ryton and the priory, without stopping at the latter, and took a couple of photos of Worksop Priory Gatehouse, which is is built in yellowish and sometimes pink dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation, as I had seen on Kilton Road.

 

Worksop Priory Gatehouse

Walking along Potter Street, Nos. 138 and 33-35a and various boundary walls are obviously pale cream dolomitic limestone but various other boundary walls have yellow to pink colour variation, which are sandy in appearance and need close examination.

 

Houses on Potter Street

Along the Magnesian Limestone escarpment, from Pontefract in West Yorkshire to Clowne in Derbyshire, I have seen examples of the Cadeby Formation that vary from very pale cream to yellow/pink in colour. The latter are usually found when the Cadeby Formation is underlain by the Yellow Sands Formation, with variable quantities of sand being incorporated into the limestone.

 

Boundary walls on Potter Street