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20-543: Sussex Stone and its limestone equivalent Sussex Marble were formed around 130 million years ago in the Lower Cretaceous period when Britain was quite different from the shape it is today. It is estimated that the latitude for Britain was approximately 30 degrees north of the equator. The fossil evidence in Horsham Stone and Sussex Marble indicate a diversity of life living on a broad, flat subtropical landscape. Towards

40-510: A good concentration of thin layers of Sussex Marble; beds typically measure no more than 1 foot (0.30 m) thick. There are often two beds—the lower formed of smaller-shelled gastropods than the upper—with a layer of calcareous clay between them. The Weald of Kent, near the Sussex border, was the centre of quarrying activity, as the material was most prevalent there. Yeomen who owned their own farms were usually involved. Bethersden village

60-450: A high pH . They are characterized by the presence of calcium carbonate in the parent material; the carbonate-ion is a base. Additionally, these soils may have a calcic horizon, a layer of secondary accumulation of carbonates (usually calciumcarbonate or magnesiumcarbonate) in excess of 15% calcium carbonate equivalent and at least 5% more carbonate than an underlying layer. Calcareous deposits can form in water pipes. An example of this

80-575: Is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. Calcareous is used as an adjectival term applied to anatomical structures which are made primarily of calcium carbonate, in animals such as gastropods , i.e.,  snails , specifically in relation to such structures as the operculum , the clausilium , and the love dart . The term also applies to the calcium carbonate tests of, often, more-or-less microscopic Foraminifera . Not all tests are calcareous; diatoms and radiolaria have siliceous tests. The molluscs are calcareous organisms, as are

100-661: Is a form of calcium carbonate sediment that consists of >30% biogenous material predominantly consisting of organisms such as coccolithophores and foraminifera . These oozes form slowly under low-energy environments, and necessitate higher seawater saturation states or a deeper CCD (see supersaturation and precipitation vs. undersaturation and dissolution ). Therefore, in shallow CCD conditions ( i.e. , undersaturation of calcium carbonate at depth), stable, non-calcareous sediments such as siliceous ooze or pelagic red clay will prevail in marine sediment records. Calcareous soils are relatively alkaline , in other words they have

120-404: Is referred to as "marble" as it polishes very well, although it is not a true marble, geologically speaking, as it has not been subject to metamorphism . The matrix is made up of the shells of freshwater gastropods and viviparus winkles, similar to but larger than those making Purbeck Marble . The pale calcified remains of the shells are in a matrix of darker material. West Sussex has

140-617: Is surrounded by "small reed-filled and tree-fringed ponds" formed by the filling over time of old marble workings. In the area, the Perpendicular Gothic towers of the parish churches of Biddenden , Headcorn , Smarden and Tenterden, pavements and paths in Staplehurst , and the Dering Arms , an inn next to Pluckley railway station , all use the material. In the early 19th century, Sussex Marble quarried at Petworth rivalled many of

160-693: Is used in pathology, for example in calcareous conjunctivitis , and when referring to calcareous metastasis or calcareous deposits , which may both be removed surgically. The term calcareous can be applied to a sediment , sedimentary rock , or soil type which is formed from, or contains a high proportion of, calcium carbonate in the form of calcite or aragonite . Calcareous sediments are typically deposited in shallow water closer to land, as marine organisms that precipitate calcium carbonate primarily reside within shallow water ecosystems due to an inability to precipitate calcium carbonate at depth (see carbonate compensation depth ). Generally speaking,

180-689: The Archbishop's chair is an entire piece of the stone. Embellishment of the nave of Chichester Cathedral is in both Purbeck and Petworth Marbles; the latter was used for the pillars of the upper triforium which even then showed "some decomposition of the shelly particles". Church fittings such as altars, rails, piers and floors have been made from the material, as have memorial tablets and parts of tombs. Sussex churches with Sussex Marble fonts include St George's at Trotton , St Peter's at Ardingly and St Mary's at West Chiltington . The lychgate at St Mary Magdalene's Church, Bolney , given to

200-468: The calcareous sponges ( Calcarea ), that have spicules which are made of calcium carbonate. Additionally, reef-building corals, or Scleractinia , are calcareous organisms that form their rigid skeletal structure through the precipitation of aragonite ( i.e. , a polymorph of calcium carbonate). Calcareous grassland is a form of grassland characteristic of soils containing much calcium carbonate from underlying chalk or limestone rock. The term

220-490: The 1880s and regular quarrying ceased completely in the 1930s with the closure of a small quarry at Nowhurst, Strood Green near Horsham. Purbeck Stone was regarded as a good substitute for Horsham Stone and repairs to stonework tended to substitute it for the more expensive and scarcer Horsham Stone. The Nowhurst quarry was reopened in 2004 by the Historic Horsham Stone Company. It produces roofing slates for

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240-636: The Ice Age around 12,000 years ago. When quarried, Horsham Stone could be extracted in "flat grey slabs of varying thickness". Horsham Stone has a long history of use. The earliest record is from the Bronze Age . Archeologists at Amberley found quern fragments made of Horsham Stone at Amberley Mount. It was used extensively by the Romans including in the construction of Stane Street . Villas such as Bignor and Fishbourne have examples of flooring and roof slates of

260-554: The Surrey/Sussex border occasionally brings up new seams of the stone. The qualities of the material are being rediscovered through British sculptors like Jon Edgar who, after a gap of nearly 200 years, are having to re-discover the ways of working it, its strengths and weaknesses. Calcareous Calcareous ( / k æ l ˈ k ɛər i ə s / ) is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate ", in other words, containing lime or being chalky . The term

280-465: The area's historic houses. Sussex Marble Sussex Marble is a fossiliferous freshwater limestone material which is prevalent in the Weald Clay of parts of Kent , East Sussex and West Sussex in southeast England. It is also called Petworth Marble , Bethersden Marble or Laughton Stone in relation to villages where it was quarried, and another alternative name is winklestone . It

300-617: The church in 1905, stands on a base of Sussex Marble. As the material is not in regular supply, much restoration of earlier Sussex Marble work takes place using Purbeck Marble , which is considered a more stable stone. An example of this practice occurred as early as 1870, when the font at St Margaret's Church in West Hoathly had to be restored but the original Sussex Marble, quarried in Petworth, had run out. The industry and workings are long gone although small new rural development around

320-571: The end of the Cretaceous period around 90 million years ago, most of Britain including Sussex would have been submerged beneath a tropical sea that was depositing chalk . The sediments of the Wealden Basin were buried under hundreds of metres of further sediment over the next 100 million years and were then uplifted gradually by plate-tectonic movement and then eroded to expose Wealden rocks. Horsham Stone would have been visible to early settlers after

340-461: The farther from land sediments fall, the less calcareous they are, and deviations from this expectation arise if (a) the ocean floor is shallower than the CCD or (b) storms/ocean currents transport calcareous sediments away from their origin point, leading to the interbedding of calcareous sediments in alternative locations. An additional form of calcareous marine sediment consists of calcareous ooze, which

360-433: The material. In later centuries there are numerous examples in Sussex and the surrounding counties as a roofing material, particularly for mills, dovecotes , churches, manor houses and similar buildings. Completely rainproof and long-lasting, it was ideal for these structures. Smaller-scale uses include road surfaces, for which the thickest slabs were typically used: the footpaths leading to St Mary's Church at Shipley ,

380-744: The north wall of St Nicholas' Church at Itchingfield , and gravestones, fonts and tombs with examples at St Mary the Virgin's Church in Horsham and St George's Church, West Grinstead . Once exposed it hardens quickly and will last for hundreds of years. The characteristic ripple marks are retained. There are redundant quarry workings throughout Sussex but just one working quarry in 2024. Large quarries at Nuthurst , and Stammerham in Southwater , are no longer extant but others survive in isolated Wealden settings. Large-scale commercial extraction of Horsham stone had stopped by

400-778: The stones which were routinely imported from the continent, in both beauty and quality. A kind of shell marble occurring in the Wealden clay, its quarrying was concentrated on the Egremont estate at Kirdford and there are accounts of the industry at nearby Plaistow . It was used in several chimney pieces at Petworth House , and in Edward the Confessor 's Chapel in Westminster Abbey the tombs of Edward III and of Richard II and his Queen are both in "grey Petworth Marble". At Canterbury Cathedral

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