EniSTOL BUILDING STONES. 



109 



is only to a small extent used in Bristol. Red Mansfield 

 stone is however employed for columns and pillars. The 

 columns in St. Paul's Church are of this stone. 



Purbeck marble may be seen in the interior of the cathe- 

 dral, and other marbles, such as the Devonshire and Belgian, 

 may be seen in the interior of Bristol and Clifton houses. 



The Capital and Counties' Bank, in Clare Street, is, Mr. 

 Brock informs me, built with a Belgian marble, which 

 appears well adapted for the city atmosphere. 



The last building stone with which I shall deal is the 

 so-called Dolomitic Conglomerate of the Trias. The Triassic 

 beds of oar neighbourhood do not produce any building 

 stones comparable to those found in Cheshire and Worcester- 

 shire, and of which Chester and Worcester cathedrals are 

 built. At the base of the Tilassic (Keuper) marls however 

 there is a formation known to geologists as the Dolomitic 

 Conglomerate, from which some building stones are obtained. 



The rock is very variable in texture, the lower strata 

 containiner blocks of Mountain Limestone and Millstone Gi'it 

 weighing several hundredweights, as may be seen in the 

 new road from the Bristol Station of the Port and Pier 

 Railway to the Downs. In such a case the material can 

 only be used as an indirect source of the limostono or fire- 

 stone. Prom Draycott, in the Cheddar Valley line, however 

 a good building stone is obtained, which has been used in 

 the construction of the newer part of the Bristol Joint 

 Station, and for the bridge over the Floating Harbour. 

 Pragraonls of limestone of irregular form, and sometimes as 

 much as two inches in diameter, are embedded in a red 

 paste. 



The specific gravity of the Draycott stone is 2'7. A cubic 

 foot of tlio rock may weigh 160 pounds. As might be 

 expected in a rock of such irregular texture, the resistance 



