Sussex Marble
Sussex Marble (German: Sussex marble ), also known as Petworth Marble or Winklestone , is a limestone that is known as marble because it can be polished and was historically named that way. In terms of geology, it is not marble, because marbles are metamorphic (transformed) rocks. In West Sussex this limestone was formed in fresh water. Sussex marble is of artistic and architectural significance for church buildings in southern England.
Geology and occurrence
The deposits of Sussex Marble originated in the area of Sussex approximately 85 to 60 million years ago in a warm sea and in the period before 60 to 2.3 million years ago in the change of formation of lakes and tropical estuaries. This limestone is mainly composed of petrified gastropods and Viviparus snails. The fossilized snails are quite larger than those found in the Purbeck Marble , and it also differs with its light-colored carbonated shell remains in dark stone material.
The extraction had been concentrated in the area of the Earl Egremont estate at Kirdford , where there were stonecutters in the village of Plaistow . The rock was also mined at Petworth and North Chapel and in smaller deposits at other locations.
Historical use
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The profiled building stone of the nave of the Cathedral Chichester (1076) are made of both purbeck Marble and from Sussex Marble, the last pillar of the upper triforium show residues of smashed clam shells.
Sussex Marble was used at Westminster Abbey outside, but also inside the chapel of Edward the Confessor (1004-1066), for the burial places of Edward III (1312-1377) and Richard II (1367-1400) and his wife who made gray "Petworth Marble" are made. The Archbishop's seat in Canterbury Cathedral is molded from a piece of Sussex marble.
Sussex Marble was used for fireplaces in Petworth House , a manor house .
In the early 18th century, Sussex Marble was in competition with many natural stones that were commonly imported from the continent.
today
This limestone is not available nowadays and for about 200 years restorations of stone made from Sussex Marble have been replaced in Purbeck Marble, which is also considered to be more weatherproof. The extraction and processing of this limestone has not taken place for a long time, although new rock deposits are currently being uncovered through construction work on the border between Surrey and Sussex .
The quality of this natural stone was rediscovered by the British stone sculptor Jon Edgar after a period of almost 200 years and processed remnants of stone into sculptures. He reactivates the processing methods of this natural stone and is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of this material.
literature
- Roger Birch: Sussex Stones - The Story of Horsham Stone and Sussex Marble . 2005, ISBN 978-0-9551259-0-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on glaucus.org.uk , accessed March 29, 2010
- ^ Gideon Algernon Mantell: The fossils of the South Downs, or, Illustrations of the geology of Sussex. L. Relfe. London 1822. Online on Google Books , accessed March 29, 2010
- ↑ Winkles's Architectural and Picturesque Illustrations of the Cathedral Churches of England and Wales Volume II (1851)
- ↑ The Saturday Magazine, Supplement, May 1834, p. 212
- ^ William Bingley (1821): Useful Knowledge: Or A Familiar Account of the Various Productions of Nature: Animal, Vegetable and Mineral which are chiefly employed for the use of Man. Volume I.