PURBECK BEDS. 349 



Economic products, etc. 



Swanage is noted for the "chipping and shipping" of stone. In the Middle 

 Piubeck Beds near Swanage there are numerous quarries where the Purbeck stone 

 is raised. There are many beds used for building, paving, and roofing ; and some 

 are serviceable as kerb-stones. The quarries, of which there are (or have been) 

 upwards of a hundred on the hill that stretches from the south of Swanage to 

 Kingston, might be termed mines, for they are reached by a sloping tunnel 30 or 

 40 feet deep, according to the position and dip of the beds. The beds are worked 

 underground to avoid removing the useless stone which forms the greater mass 

 of the strata. (See Fig. 55.) The Langton freestone is Purbeck stone dug at 

 Langton Maltravers. At Ridgway Hill (Upway), the workable stone occurs in 

 the Lower Purbeck Beds. 



The Purbeck Marble (Marble Rag) which occurs in the Upper Purbeck strata, 

 is exhibited at Peveril Point, and has been worked about 700 years, inland along 

 the Purbeck ridge, near the junction with the Wealden strata. Quarries are to be 

 seen at Easton, and at Woody Hyde and West Orchard near Kingston. ^ The beds 

 are usually from 6 to 9 inches in thickness, and are mostly made up of specimens 

 of Palicdnm, which stand out in relief on the weathered surfaces of the stone. 

 Much of the Marble is of a grey colour, but red and green varieties are 

 sometimes obtained. Formerly it was much employed for making the slender 

 shafts in Gothic churches ; but the introduction of foreign marbles has decreased 

 the demand for it. Stone has been worked at Teffont Evias, near Dinton, for 

 building-purposes and lime-burning ; and south of Chilmark the Purbeck beds 

 have been raised in slabs for tiling, etc. 



A bed called the Burr stone, a soft sandy limestone, occurs in the lower strata 

 at Portland ; it stands fire, and has been used for chimney-work and fire-places. 

 Shell-limestones, also termed Burr stone, occur in the upper beds at Swanage, and 

 have been employed for building-purposes. The Aish bed at Portland has been 

 used for holystone. 



Gypsmn occurs in the Lower Purbeck Beds at Durlston Bay, and masses have 

 been collected from the beach. It is worked now near the site of the Sub- Wealden 

 Boring, at Limekiln Wood, near Battle. The limestones were at one time largely 

 quarried, mostly by shafts, in the Purbeck area, north-west of Battle. Hard 

 calcareous sandstones are worked in places for road-metal. 



See also Rev. J. H. Austen, Guide to Geol. I. of Purbeck, 1852. 



