Stone in Archaeology Database


Bath Stone - Winsley Ground

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

Great Oolite Series.

General Colour Description:

A cream coloured stone with occasional dark inclusions.

Hand Specimen Description:

A medium grained, moderately well sorted, hard, oolitic limestone with occasional shell fragments and rare large broken shell debris (up to 3mm in length).

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