104 



BRISTOL EUTLDING STONES. 



Most of tho older buildings in Bristol and Clifton aro 

 built of Jurassic Oolite, tho even facing of wbicli contrasts 

 markedly witb tho rough facing of the Pennant now so 

 largely in use. But oven in houses whore Pennant is now 

 employed, Oolite is employed for dressing. 



Tho Oolite in use is of throe kinds — Dundry, Uoulting, and 

 Bath. Tho two former are, geologically speaking, from the 

 Inferior Oolite; the last from the Great Oolite. 



Dundry stone, from the outlier of that name, is now but 

 little quarried. It is however being used for the restora- 

 tion of the Norman Archway House, College Green. It was 

 used throughout in tho construction of St. Mary, Redcliffe, 

 Church, where it has stood well on the whole, though in 

 parts it shows signs of exfoliation. Parts of the north porch, 

 and of tho south-east wall, and buttresses of the chancel, 

 have been encased with Caon stone, which is perishing 

 miserably. One would have thought that the example of 

 Henry VII. Chapel in Westminster Abbey would have been 

 a deterrent to tho use of this material in an atmosphere not 

 al ways smokeless. 



I "-atlier from a note in Mr. John Ilvans' Chronological 

 Eistory of Bristol (1824) that St. Augustine's Abbey (now 

 part of tho cathedral) was built of Dundry stone, the abbol-s 

 holding a lease of tho quarries at Dundry ; and tliat tho 

 churches of the twelfth century are all of this stone. 

 Certainly the old cathedral walls, and the lower part of St. 

 Stephen's tower, do not seem to have stood well. The upper 

 part of St. Stephen's tower (about 14(;()) seems to have 

 suffered less in proportion. I do not know of what stone it 

 is built, but in all probability it is Dundry. 



Dundry stone is heavier than I5ath stone, standing indeed 

 midway between this light freestone and the denser Port^ 

 land Oolite. Its specific gravity is 2-45, a cubic foot of the 



