298 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[AtreusT, 



2 cos 48- — 2 sin Go= M292042 (a) 

 2 cos 8 fl — 2 sin e = 1-0000000 (6) 

 2 005 56° — 2 sin 7"= -8740472 (c) 



f •2545570 4a)- 



70 fio _ 10= 60' S , 



D _ 1 _ ou 1 .1292042 (a) - 



-(6) 



2545570 : 1202042 : : OU' : 31' . • • fi = G» 31', and 89 = 52» &'. 



Since 5 O ::::=,«■ ^ 



1 



cosSfl cos 52° 8' 



— 1-6291: 



nearly- This 



last example shows that great nicety is not required in selecting the 

 angle g O 4, even when the number of parts are few and the angle 

 AO B small; for in one instance we have supposed gO 4 to be 5G°aiid 

 in the other 48°, and yet we have arrived at the value of e to a minute 

 of a degree, which at once shows the certainty of this plan of proceeding. 



ON THE RELATIVE COST OF MASONRY 



In Freestone, Sandslone, or Gritstone, in proportion to the Qualitt/ and 

 Quaniiti/ of Worhnansliip thereon, and Observations on Prices to 

 Contractors. 



The investigation into the quality of the building stone, in reference 

 to the Houses of Parliament, having brought this subject prominently 

 before the public, and the deficiency of knowledge, as regards the 

 technicalities of masonry, exhibited by those who are supposed to be 

 well versed in such matters, has induced me to send you this paper 

 with the above heading. In the account given of the squabble of the 

 Midland Counties Railway in Herapath's Railway Journal, for 1843, 

 page 153, "The answer of tlie Committee of Inquiry to the reply of 

 the Directors to their report, with the rejoinder of the Directors," the 

 following occurs in reference to the uncertainty of the knowledge of 

 technicalities. Answer of Committee, C — Observe, referring to the 

 weir across the Trent, that the litigation mentioned by the Directors 

 in their reply, was caused by allowing the words ' Ashlar Stone Weir' 

 to be inserted in the agreement with the Navigation Company. 

 Rejoinder, D— States that Mr. M. pointed out to Mr. J. the words 

 'Ashlar Stone" being a term which he did not understand, and he 

 asked him what it meant, Mr. J. answered that it was quite right ; 

 upon these words the litigation afterwards arose. The Trent Naviga- 

 tion Company endeavouring to enforce a weir of such construction as 

 the Directors were advised would cost at least £20,000." Finally, a 

 weir was constructed at a cost of 5000L or 6000^., and of less work- 

 manship. 



Now the question whether " Ashlar" is dressed stone or stone 

 as it came from the quarry, is very difficult to decide by reference 

 to dictionaries, whether general or architectural. In the schedule 

 of the contracts on the North Midland Railway, we have the fol- 

 lowing terms, " Ashlar, tool-dressed and laid in mortar. Hammer- 

 dressed walling stone, coursed rubble and random rubble ; and in the 

 schedule of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, we find the term, 

 " Ashlar backing, or bastard Ashlar work," from which it may be in- 

 ferred that the term Ashlar means dressed stone. On consulting 

 Bailey's Dictionary, 1759, he says — "Ashlar: Freestour as it comes 

 out of the quarry." And on reference to " Mechanical Exercises," by 

 Peter Nicholson, 1812, page 'J75, he says — "Walls faced with squared 

 stones, hewn or rubbed, and backed with rubble stone, are called Ash- 

 lar." From this latter quotation 1 am inclined to think that, from the 

 term " hewn," that Ashlar is stone as hewn from the quarry or quarry 

 dressed, being level on both beds, and that the term bastard Ashlar, to 

 denote this description of stone work, as used in the schedule of the 

 Manchester and Leeds Railway, in contra-distinction to tooled or dressed 

 Ashlar, is improper. I have also seen in a specification the terra 

 " Ashlar or cut stone work ;" yet I contend the term Ashlar does not 

 include other dressing than that at the quarry. Any stone of a wall 

 has 6 sides, a face or front, upper and lower beds, two end joints, and 

 back. 



-The term faced is used in connection with tlie tools used in 

 working the stone, to denote the description of work — as chiseled 

 stone, or chisel-dressed stone ; drafted and troached ; chiseled after 

 the pick ; hammer-dressed ; all in allusion to the quality of the facing 

 or work put upon the front or face of the stone. As regards the 

 strength of masonry, it is usual to specify the height of each course, 

 the frequency of thorough stones or bond stones, and the average 

 thickness of the stretchers, as an example — the Ashlar stone each 

 course to be 18 in. high, the bed of stretchers to average two feet, and 

 the bonders to form one-fourth of the whole face, and to be 34 feet 

 deep on the bed. The quality of workmanship of the beds and end 



joints of the stone is inferior to the face, and is usually roughly chiseled 

 after the pick. An inferior description is called hammer-dressed, in 

 allusion to the stone being so dressed on the face ; and in the specifi- 

 cations the same allusion is made to the height of the courses as no- 

 ticed above in reference to Ashlar, the courses being less, and beds 

 narrower, no course to be less than 9 or more than 15 inches in height. 

 Bed of stretcliers to be 12 in., headers two feet on the bed, with inter- 

 vals not exceeding four feet. 



The Commissioners of Inquiry into the quality of building stones 

 have assumed " plain work" on Portland stone as unity, which I 

 suppose is rubbed work including labour only, and may be fairly 

 taken to represent one shilling as regards cost; and by reference 

 to the report it will be seen that the hardest sandstone is repre- 

 sented by l-2.'>, and the softest by -9. The cost of the stone de- 

 pends on the cost of getting, royalty, waste, &c., and the relative size 

 of the blocks, as under or above a certain cubic content, or weight in 

 tons, taking IG feet to the ton ; but this is not altogether the right or 

 proper plan, as there are certain relative dimensions in the length, and 

 proportion between bed and face or depth of the course, which give 

 an increased value. First as to the royalty, it is usual to charge from 

 £0 to £10 per annum for each man at the face actually hewing stone , 

 not labourers clearing away rubbish, but exclusive of them entirely, 

 which may amount to about Id. per cubic foot, so that any offer of 

 stone by any landowner gratis to any building, provided the quarry is 

 not " bared," or opened, will be evidently more generous in appear- 

 ance than in reality. By reference to the Commissioners' report, it 

 will be found that the price of the sandstone in the county of Durham 

 is from Sd. to 9rf. and as low as id. per cubic foot at the quarry, and 

 that fine-tooled face, including joints and beds, is M. per cubic foot, 

 and if rubbed 2J. in addition. But for ordinary purposes the price of 

 ashlar may be called tjd. one mile from the quarry, and workmanship 

 Grf., and mortar and scaliblding 2d., or a total of ]id. per cubic foot. 

 But to divide even more minutely the price per cubic foot of labour, 

 chiseled after pick is Idrf. toljt/.; setting lirf, to lirf.; stone lime, 

 two of sand to one of lime. Id. ; and if the whole of each course of 

 interior masonry be dressed the same as exterior, the cost will be in- 

 creased from 2rf. to 2ld. per cubic foot. The question of cost is fur- 

 ther involved when the face of the stone is sunk, or panelled, or 

 rubbed, or moulded — and the following is a schedule for Mansfield 

 stone. Stone Is. 'id. ; labour, bed and joint 4c?., tooled 7d., sunk lOid., 

 rubbed Sd., picked '^d., rubbed and sunk Is., ditto moulded Is. Sd., 

 boasted and tooled 4.d. In the building for which these latter prices 

 were used the Darley Dale stone was substituted, and the cost was 9d. 

 per cubic foot more for the stone, and the labour was double in conse- 

 quence of its not being able to be sawn: the cost of Mansfield being 

 Is. 9d. for the stone and 7d, for labour, and of Darley Dale 2s. for 

 stone and Is. for labour, both exclusive of setting. In the Journal, 

 vol L, page 188, a correspondent, C. L. O., writing on stone, states that 

 Darley Dale stone from Derbyshire, was to be used for the termini of 

 the London and Birmingham Railway, and supposes it to be limestone, 

 which it is not, being a very fine grit. The terminus at Birmingham 

 was built with the stone, and although then little known and its work- 

 ableness not tested, the competition was so close that in twelve com- 

 petitors in an amount of £40,000 the difference was only £200. 

 Another correspondent, Vol. V. page 297, and I believe one of the Com- 

 mission to inquire into the stone for building the Parliament Houses, 

 in a paper read before the Institution of British Architects, observes, 

 that architects are wanting in attention to the quality of stone known 

 by one name and obtained from different beds, and of their being satis- 

 fied with the generic term good ; and that, from competition, builders 

 are not studious of quality, but what kind of stone can be most expe- 

 ditiously wrought, and that merchants in consequence cannot find a 

 market for a better quality if they were so inclined, and that quarries 

 of good quality are laid aside and inferior substituted. He combats 

 the idea of its being a recommendation to a stone that of hardening by 

 exposure ; and that no wonder need be excited if a bad stone should 

 be conspicuously placed in a building, otherwise in excellent condi- 

 tion, from the mere circumstance of its being of the requisite size, and 

 concludes by holding cheaply the test of disintegration as a proof of 

 durability, but offers no better test as a mode of adoption. Before 

 making any remark on the above observation, let me call attention to 

 another correspondent, A Lover of Fair Play, Vol. III. page 309, who 

 states that the stone used for the Houses of Parliament is from Steetly 

 Quarry, and not reported upon by the Commissioners at all. The 

 stone selected, Bolsover Moor, being stated by another correspondent, 

 Amicus, Vol III. page l89, to be deficient in size, form, and quantity, 

 as was also the Mansfield Woodhinge stone, the magnesio calciferous 

 sandstone, as it is called, which, by-the-bye, is not very intelligible to 

 the uneducated or uninitiated student either of architecture or geology ; 

 but to return to the paper of the Institute of British Architects. 



