IS16.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



IT- 



KENTISH RAGSTONE. 



To Mr. Whichcord we are indebled for the following practical informa- 

 tion regarding Kentish Ragslone, used by our forefathers rather largely 

 in many of our Gothic edifines, and at the present period it is 

 again introduced with considerable advantage ; it afl'ords, combined with 

 dressings of Caen stone or Bath stone, an economical and, at the same 

 time, a durable material for the construction of the walling of our ecclesi- 

 astical edifices, for which purpose it bids fair to supersede facings of white, 

 red, and yellow bricks, and when it is judiciously introduced is very little, 

 if any, more expensive. There is not a question as to its superior advan- 

 tages in an architectural point of view. 



Mr. Whichcord is an architect of extensive practice in Kent, and has 

 had an opportunity of watching the working of Kentish ragstone, both in 

 the quarry and in the building ; he is, therefore, fully qualified to give us 

 an opinion of its merits, which he lias done in a pamphlet just published,* 

 containing the whole of his paper, read at the Institute of British Archi- 

 tects, noticed in the Journal for January last, page 27, where we gave 

 an account of the geological character of the stone, and which we now 

 propose to follow up by adding some iuforraation regarding its practical 

 uses. 



" The larger blocks of Kentish Rag Stone of superior quality, are locally 

 known under the name of ashlar, which comprises all work that is bedded 

 or jointed ; in fine, the stone when applied to any of the uses for which 

 Portland or York are generally available. Stone of this description is 

 sold by the cuiiic foot, and fetches a much higher price in proportion than 

 the smaller kind. 



The stone, when quarried, first has its rough projections knocked anay, 

 and for economy in transport (as the blocks cannot be sawn) is usually re- 

 duced as nearly as possible to its required dimensions. This process is 

 technically called " skiffling," (termed " kiiobbling" in the neighbourhood 

 of London, and also in the west of England.) and is performed with a 

 heavy, double pointed hammer, such as is used in working granite. The 

 necessity for this practice would cause great waste upon the stone, if the 

 fragments of the better description were not available for burning into lime. 

 The best lime, however, is usually burnt from the best stone. 



Raifstone usklar is usually dressed with the hammer, either roughly or 

 with more care, in which state it is said to be *' rott^hlij piclced" or *' close 

 picked.^^ In the better kinds of wark it is usual to run a tooled draft 

 round the arris of the stone, which gives to the blocks a very neat appear- 

 ance ; sometimes the whole face is tooled, a process which greatly in- 

 creases the labour without adding to the beauty of the stone ; even the 

 best kinds are full of small hassocky spots, which show themselves upon a 

 smooth face, turn rusty upon exposure to weather, and facilitate the decay 

 of the stone. A building faced with tooled ashlar, even when newly 

 erected, exhibits the appearance of bad Portland when going rapidly to 

 decay : an evil that is not lessened by the frequency of the joints, neces- 

 sarily caused by the small size of the stones, and a defect which is not so 

 observable when the face of the work is picked. Sunk work and mould- 

 ing upon ragstone should, as much as possible, be avoided, both from the 

 great cost of executing them in so hard a material, and the rapid decay 

 that so much wrought surface causes in this stone. The mediaeval builders 

 were well aware of this fact, and while they used ragstone extensively in 

 the more substantial parts of their structures, preferred Caen or even fire 

 or sandstone for the decorated portions. Caen stone is more peculiarly 

 appropriate to be used with ragstone, on account of the small dill'erence of 

 the two materials in colour, a distiuction entirely obliterated by time. 



In using '* ragstone ashlar'^ great care should be taken to have the stone 

 laid upon its natural bed, as any other proceeding will almost certainly be 

 followed by rapid decay ; not but that I believe the stone in its soundest 

 form to be almost beyond the influence of time or the elements, but that 

 from the thinness of the strata, blocks of a large size can seldom be entirely 

 freed from hassock ; and even what appears to the eye as blue stone, does, 

 for a considerable distance inward, retain the perishable nature of its en- 

 veloping crust. A block of ragstone (if the face be worked) will present, 

 in damp weather, an appearance precisely similar to the heart and sap of 

 timber. 



When it is necessary (as in case of copings, &c.) that one bed should be 

 exposed, care should be taken in skiffling the stone to reduce its dimen- 

 sions as much as possible from the upper side, so as to expose only the 

 soundest portion of the stone to the action of the atmosphere. In scmie 

 situations, such as mullions, and door and window jambs, an unsightly 

 appearance would be produced by too exact an attention to the beds of tiie 

 stone, as the ashlar is generally too small to range with more than one 

 course of headers. In these cases the old masons seem to have departed 

 from their usual rule, and to have set the blocks on end so as to embrace 

 two or three courses; but as the depth of the block required to work an 

 ordinary jamb or mullion is not very great, it is not a dillicult thing to get 

 the whole thickness required out of the heart of stone, and where this has 

 been done, the work will be found pretty free from decay. 



Stone of the smaller layings is generally worked into headers, and 

 used for the facing of walls, or for paving. In dressing headers for build- 

 ing purposes, it is common to work one side of the stone to a rough face 

 with parallel sides, without paying much attention to the beds and joints, 



* A Pamphlet, " Observations on Kentish Ragstone aa a Building Material." By John 

 Wtiicbcord, jun., architect, London : John Weale, 



which often recede at an acute angle with the face, so as to bring the 

 stones, when laid, to a closer joint. Attention, however, should be paid in 

 building to have the stones pro|ierly pinned in behind, and carefully bonded 

 with the work at back. Headers are generally knocked out to six, seven, 

 eight or nine inch gauge for the height; the length and tail being deter- 

 mined by the size of the stone. Most headers, however, on face do not 

 vary a great deal from the square form. No attention is paid to setting 

 headers on their natural bed, as the appearance of the work is not so much 

 injured by any superficial decay. It is not unusual, however, to tiud 

 stones in an old wall entirely gone from this cause. 



" Coursed header wurlc." — There are several modes of building with rag- 

 stone, either now iu use or practised by our ancestors. That most fre- 

 quently adopted in the better kind of modern buildings is the coursed 

 header work, iu which headers of an equal height and parallel joints are 

 laid round in a similar manner to brickwork. There is always something 

 stiff and formal about this kind of work, from the large size of the joints 

 marking out eacli stone in distinct individuality. To make the matter 

 worse, the work is generally finished with a raised or a sunk joint, and 

 the mortar coloured of a deep blue colour ; sometimes we see the work 

 eren tuck-pointed, as though it were designed to set each stone in a frame. 

 Coursed header work is pariicularly inapplicable to the free forms of pointed 

 architecture. If used at all, the stones should be laid in ragstone lime 

 mortar, not chalk lime, aad the joints simply struck. As far as appearance 

 goes, it would be ahnost better that they were left rough. Chalk lime 

 should be especially eschewed as both aislhetically and practically bad. 

 It will not adhere to the ragstone, and the difference of colour is more 

 offensive than when hlue moriar is used. 



" Random coursed work" seems to have been an improved mode of build- 

 ing, viz., the carrying up all the walls as nearly as possible together ; this 

 led to the practice of levelling out the work in a rough manner at every 

 foot, or sixteen inches in height, carrying up each portion with stones of 

 various sizes, roughly headed (as facing ihein is termed), and without much 

 attention to jointing. It consequently occurred that one stone would some- 

 times occufiy the height of two or three, while the rough sides caused con- 

 tinual irregularities in the joints. Great care is, however, frequently 

 shown in tilting smaller stones to the irregularities of the larger ones, anj 

 the result of the whole is a more substantial mode of biiikliug, and greater 

 uiiifuriuity of surface; the joints, from not occuriug in straight lines, being 

 much less observalile than in header work. Tlie bond, too, is much more 

 complete, and an inspection of our county churches, of wliich mo^t have 

 the towers executed in this style, will convince any one of i'.s durability. 



" Random header work." — There is, however, now in use a kind of ap- 

 proximation to " randoincoursed work," that is even more objectionable 

 than header, or rubble work; I mean "random header work." This, 

 though only applied iu inferior situations, is nearly as expensive as coursed 

 header work, which it is in fact, only done in a more slovenly manner. It 

 is executed with headers of the ordinary description, but of unequal sizes, 

 as though attempted to be carried up in courses. The joints of the mortar 

 are generally left roMff/i; this lessens the bad effect that would otherwise 

 be produced by the arrangement, or rather ho arrangement, of the headers ; 

 but when the whole is done, ti>e courses are only crooked, when, to all ap- 

 peflrauce, they were intended to be straight. 



" Random work^' is a style now much used in ornamental buildings, such 

 as lodges, cottages, almshouses, dairies, &c. &c. It is commonly executed 

 with unsquared stone, with the joints carefully fitted together and piuned 

 in with smaller stones. W hen this description of work is well done, the 

 joints never run in continuous, horizontal, or vertical lines, and every stone 

 oufjhi to break joint. The appearance is very good, but considerable time 

 and much skill and nicety are required for its performance. Of course, 

 from the mode of building in this style, it is scarcely applicable to large 

 works, both because there is a certain littleness of appearance about it, 

 and that it is wanting in the requisite stability. 



" Rough random work" may be placed in the same class as that just de- 

 scribed, but executed in an inferior manner. In this descriptiou of work 

 it is not customary to give the stones any dressing at all, hut merely lay 

 them together with as much compactness as their irregular forms will 

 allow : filling iu between the larger stones with smaller pieces. When 

 this kind of work is well done, it will be found very durable, and it is not 

 an uncommon practice, where ragstone abounds, to build mclosure walls 

 in this manner, but without using mortar or any cementing substance; and 

 walls thus constructed will last for a considerable length of time. It is 

 the cheapest kind of building, as there is less waste in the sloue, and the 

 expense of heading is saved, besides that a good workman will do more 

 of it than of header work in the same time. Foundations are usually laid 

 in rough random work, and it is applied to inclosure walls and interior 

 buildings. 



Galleting. — It is customary in many parts of the county to " gallet" the 

 joints of ragstone work ; that is, to stick small " stone pinners" as thickly 

 as possible in the pointing mortar. Galleliug* is applied iud.ffereutly to 

 every description of work, and it has the good effect of securing the joints 

 in a great degree from the action of frost, (?j and iu some situations ii im- 

 proves the appearance of the work. 



Mention has already been made of the use of hassock as an inside 

 lining to walls built with ragstone It is usually roughly squared, an ope- 

 ration that should never be neglected, as thecrumhliug nature of the stone 



* The masons call the pieces of stone chipped off by the stroke of the chisel " ga,l«ts,'* 

 probably from " galette" (French) a small cuke. 



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