Stone in Archaeology Database


Bath Stone - Monks Park

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Local Name(s): Bath Stone - Monks Park. Example of Bath Stone - Monks Park
Stone Group: Sedimentary
Stone Type: Limestone
Geology:
Era:   Mesozoic
Period:   Jurassic
Epoch:   Middle
Geological Sub-Divisons:

Great Oolite Series.

General Colour Description:

Cream/buff coloured, on the whole paler than the other Bath Stones.

Hand Specimen Description:

A medium to fine grained, relatively well sorted, hard, oolitic limestone which is poorly fossiliferous with a variable proportion of shell fragments. The cement is characteristically crystalline. It is difficult to distinguish the varieties of Bath Stone apart when used in a building despite 'Monks Park' being much finer in grain than most other Bath oolites.

General Comments:

Bath Stone of unspecified type was used by the Romans for baths, buildings, villas, memorial stones and sculptures. There were probably Roman quarries at Combe Down and an early inscription to an official suggests imperial interest at the time of Caracalla. Little quarrying occurred in the Saxon period, and the next earliest reference to Bath Stone is in 1207 with small scale quarrying. Activity continued from this time up until the 18th century which became the 'great age' for Bath Stone extracted from Combe Down, Odd Down and Hampton Down (Stanier 2000: 68).

Stone Identifiers: Calcareous,  Fossiliferous,  Oolitic.
Reacts dilute to HCl? Yes