a* 



THE CIVIL EXGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



LMabch 



£ s. A. 

 Brought forward.. .. .. G9,905 



Estimated cost of the stone carving under the arrange- 

 ment sanctioned by her Majestv's Commissioners of 

 Woods, &c., May 13, 1841 '.. .. .. 3,520 



Contract, No. 7 (at Prices). 

 For interior finishings : Amount . . 



f73,425 



jE21,407 6 



Contract, No. 8 (at Prices). 

 For interior finishings : Estimated amount.. .. dE165,37o 



A Copy OF THE Okioi.val Estimate (1S37). 

 River Front and Returns 

 King's Tower 

 Clocl< Tower. . 

 Old Palace Yard Front . . 

 New Palace Yard Front 

 Puhlic Entrance Approaches 

 House of Lords 



Offices, Approaches, &c., to ditto 

 House of Commons .. 

 Offices, Approaches, &c., to ditto 

 Law Courts . . 



£707,101 



ON CAEN STONE. 



Frmn a paper read at the Royal Institution of British Architects, 

 onJuniiarii 2ith. By T. L. Donalbson, Esq. 



Being about to employ a large quantity of Caen stone in a work 

 ■which is on the point of commencing, I was anxious to malce 

 myself fully acquainted with its properties and varieties, and the 

 quantity of well-seasoned blocks that might be available in the 

 market. I therefore determined to go to Caen itself, and visit the 

 quarries. A few hours carries one o^er to Ha\'re from Southamp- 

 ton, and a steam-boat conveys passengers from Havre to Caen 

 in four hours. The last hour is occupied in mounting the river 

 Orne, which, in its course from the sea to some distance above 

 Caen, has a flat country on the left bank of the ri\er, but, on the 

 right, generally a lofty bank, at times immediately overlianging 

 the stream, at others receding from it, but again joining it. Not 

 far from the mouth of the Orne, at a place called Ranville, 

 quarries are worked in the face of this bank. It is a liarder 

 and coarser variety of the same stone as tluit near Caen, and 

 of more open texture, witli a more crystalline character, lience 

 more adapted for hydraulic works than for buildings. I am in- 

 formed Ijy our friend, Mr. H. C. Smith, that tliese coarse varieties, 

 which doubtless are very durable, resemble in several particulars 

 the stone from ^Veldon, in Northamptonshire, of which the oldest 

 buildings at Cambridge are constructed. 



The material generally known to us under the appellation of 

 Caen stone is of tlie oolitic formation, presenting a close analogy 

 in its general, and e\'en in some of its minor divisions, witli the 

 rocks of a similar kind in tlie soutli of England. The quarries 

 whence it is derived are situated at Allemagne, a parish and village 

 on the right bank of the river, at the distance of about a mile and 

 a half, or two miles, above the city. The quarries heretofore 

 worked occupy a superficial area of about four square miles. 

 Some are worked by means of shafts, which afford access to the 

 quarries under ground, braiu'hing ofl' on all sides in long galleries, 

 or multiplied by chambers, which are about 18 feet wide, and the 

 ceiling-bed upheld by massive rude piers, wliich are left 9 feet 

 square and 18 feet apart, the height being about IS or 20 feet. 

 These (juarries, which are immediately on the I)ank of the river — 

 here abruptly rising from the water — have an access from the side 

 of the liank, and arc ajjproached by inclined roads, leading from 

 the summit of the bank abo\'e and from the water's edge below. 

 The openings to these dark and gloomy ca\erns have a very pic- 

 turesque effect, and a continued series of them present themselves 

 one after the other. The galleries penetrate to a considerable 

 distance. The extraction of the stone is done by contract or task 

 work, at so much per cube, the quarrymen removing tlie blocks 

 and dressing them, and another set of men contracting for their 

 carriage from the (piarry to the quay at Caen. 



Immediately under the soil there are some thin courses of hard 



coarse stone and rubble, but the immediate ceiling-bed is called 

 the htnic c/outier, and is about 2 ft. C in. thick. It is of a hardish 

 quality, but is not ajijilicable for building purposes, as it contains 

 a great quantity of pebbles, which offer great difficulties in the 

 sawing and working. There ai-e about six beds of goiul building 

 stone, the five uppermost ones calculated for outside work, the 

 lowermost adapted only for inside work, as it has soft portions, 

 which do not well resist the atmosjihere.'' Much of this is used in 

 the interior of the new Parliament buildings. Tlie aggi-egate height 

 of tliese six lieds is from 22 to 23 feet. It is to be observed that 

 aU these beds are not to be found in every quarry, one or other of 

 them disappearing and re-a]>pearjng in the same manner as in 

 England. The names which I am about to give do not obtain in 

 all parts of the district ; and some of them have various designa- 

 tions given to them by the quarrymen. The uppermost bed is 

 called the banc pourri, about 3 feet thick, whicli is a very good 

 quality of stone ; but occasionally it has in some portions the hard 

 pebbles, previously alluded to, as prevailing to so gi-eat a degree 

 in the banc cloutier, and therefore it is not so much esteemed for 

 finer building purposes as the lower beds. The gron banc is the 

 next bed, and has an average depth of 5 feet, but as it is inconve- 

 nient to work to that large size, it is generally split into two, in 

 heights of 3 feet and 2 feet ; and the smaller one is called the 

 banqueret of the ijros banc. La picrre franchched comes next, about 

 3 feet deep, which is of a harder quality, and well adapted for 

 cornices, sills, copings, and the like exposed positions in a building. 

 Next to this is the banc de quatre pieds, a very fine bed, which has 

 the same appellation, and depth of 4 feet, in all the quarries, as 

 also the next bed, called /a yj/ove f/e ?rc((?f//o»ces, being 30 inches 

 deep, a good hard bed of stone, and forming the lowest of those 

 fit for outside purposes and exposure to the weather. Tlie sixth 

 and lowermost lied of the building-stone is termed the franc banc 

 and has a total dejith of from \ feet 6 inches to 5 feet, but this 

 being, like that of the gros banc, an inconvenient depth, it is di- 

 vided into a lower thickness of 3 feet, and an upper banqneret of 

 20 or 24. inches deep. The whole of the stone of these beds is soft 

 and tender in the quarries, and the blocks are extracted with great 

 ease. They are produced of regular size and squareness. AMieii 

 taken to the outside, and exposed to the atmosphere, they gradually 

 part with much of their humidity, and harden ; and, if exposed 

 on the quays during the winter, they are co\ered over to protect 

 them from the frost. They saw freely with a common peg-toothed 

 saw, without either sand or water, and are easily worked for 

 building purposes ; and, being of a compact fine grain, they pro- 

 duce very sharp arrises, and receive a very smooth surface on the 

 face. 



During the winter little work is done in the quarries in regard 

 to extracting blocks of stone ; but the men occupy themselves in 

 sawing and squaring slabs about 12 or 15 inches square, and from 

 an inch to an inch and a half, or more, thick, wliich are used for 

 paving halls, galleries, and even some rooms inside their buildings. 

 But the most extraordinary use to which 1 have seen these square 

 slabs applied, was in the church of the Trinity of the Ahbaye aux 

 Dames. Two of the openings between the piers have been closed 

 up, for the purpose of some repairs going on. I passed tlirough a 

 door in tlie partition or inclosure, both of which appeared to nie 

 of the same thickness. My surprise was great, and I examined 

 the edge of the ojiening, and found it of stone, and discovered, 

 upon closer inspection, that the opening, about 10 feet wide by 

 20 feet high, was inclosed by these square thin slabs, aliout an inch 

 and a half thick, placed on edge, put to gether with plaister, suffi- 

 ciently stalile to allow a door to work in its aperture. I subse- 

 quently was t(dd, upon inquiry, that the inside partition in rooms, 

 10 feet high, are formed of the same material, and secured by oc- 

 casional upright studs, 10 feet apart. These partitions are admi- 

 rable, for they are very light, occupy little space, and form an ex- 

 cellent ground to receive the plastering on the surface. 



The general. character given of the Caen stone is, that all the 

 Vieds are of the same quality, and all equally adapted for building 

 purposes ; but evidently, from the infoi'iuation w liich I collected 

 on the spot, and subsequently in London, from Messrs. Luard, tliere 

 are modifications in each bed, as may be reasonably supposed, and 

 as experience teaches us in the quarries of other oolitic stones in 

 Bath and Portland. V^irious veins traverse the beds in all direc- 

 tions, and have a white apjiearance ; this white substance is equally 

 hard w ith tlie stone itself, and if a stone be laid w ith its bed 

 parallel w ith the direction of tliese veins, it is of little consequence, 

 but they, of course, indicate a certain unsoundness or division in 



* This is also the case with all the oolitic quarries in England. The uppermost beds 

 are hardest to ivork, hut most durable ; the lower beds are soft, aud will not stand the 

 weather so well as the upper ones. 



