INDUSTRIES 



STONE QUARRIES, LIME BURNING, FULLERS' 



EARTH, ETC. 



In the history of the extinct iron-smelting 

 industry of the Weald we have dealt with the 

 only metal of importance which the soil of 

 Surrey has produced. But certain other 

 mineral products of the county, such as its 

 freestone quarries, its chalk and limestone, 

 and its fullers' earth, have for a very long 

 period proved some of its most valuable com- 

 mercial assets. 



In good building stone however Surrey is 

 poor. One which has perhaps proved the 

 most satisfactory and durable is the so-called 

 Bargate stone, which is quarried principally in 

 the neighbourhood of Godalming. This is a 

 hard-grained yellow sandstone, and its colour, 

 varying from golden yellow to deep brown, 

 makes it of pleasing effect.* The most im- 

 portant building in Surrey constructed of this 

 stone is the square keep of Guildford Castle, 

 erected about the time of Henry II. ; ' but it 

 has been used also in church architecture, as, 

 for instance, in the tower of Godalming 

 church and in some of the original Norman 

 work in Ripley church. 



Another material which Mr. P. M. John- 

 ston notes has been much used in the early 

 churches of the county is the conglomerate or 

 pudding-stone, which is of frequent occurrence 

 in the gravelly soil of the Bagshot Beds in the 

 north-western district of the county. Mr. 

 Johnston remarks that this natural concrete, 

 ' which is formed of masses of pebbles con- 

 taining much iron ore, fused by volcanic 

 action into lumps of greater or less size,' was 

 commonly used in large masses in the founda- 

 tions of ancient churches. But the Norman 

 tower of Cobham church is largely built of it, 

 as are also the walls of Woking, Send, and 

 other churches in the county.' 



The commonest building stone however 

 which has been used in Surrey has been found 

 in the quarries of malmstone or fire-stone of 

 the Upper Greensand formation or ' Merstham 

 Beds,' which extend from Reigate to Limps- 

 field and northwards to Merstham.* The 

 two quarries at Limpsfield mentioned in the 

 ' Domesday Survey ' were no doubt of this 

 stone.* Records prove that this stone has 

 been in more than local demand ; for in 1259 



• Surr. Arch. Coll. xvi. 185 and note. 

 2 Ibid. 31. 



' Ibid. 186 note. 



« V.C.H. Surrey, i. 9, 10. 



• Ibid. i. 31 13 and note. 



in the accounts of the building of the king's 

 palace at Westminster we find amongst the 

 names of the purveyors of freestone those 

 of Richard of Croydon, Peter of Merstham, 

 and Randolph of Reigate. The price paid 

 for the stone was at that time 61. the 

 hundredweight, and it was purchased in 

 quantities varying from one quarter to a hun- 

 dredweight for such purposes as the building 

 of the chimney, the laundry, the king's 

 chamber, and the quay.* 



Nearly a hundred years later John Prophete 

 appears as a purveyor of very considerable 

 quantities of Reigate stone for the important 

 works which were then in hand for Edward 

 III. in connection with buildings at West- 

 minster Palace and the large additions made 

 by that king to Windsor Castle.'' The stone 

 was sent from Reigate either clean-hewn or 

 in the rough, the price in the former case 

 being at the rate of from is. to 2r. 4</. the 

 load, the rate varying perhaps in accordance 

 with the extent to which the stone had been 

 moulded, and in the latter case at u. '^d. the 

 load. In addition to this there was the cost 

 of carriage. For the Westminster works the 

 stone was taken by land to Battersea at the 

 rate of is. each cart. From Battersea it came 

 by boat to Westminster, freightage being at 

 about \\d. the load. From 21 May to 

 24 September 1352 it appears that sixteen 

 loads of the squared stone and fifty-six of 

 the rough were sent up from Reigate. It 

 was applied to work upon the great hall, 

 the chambers of the marshal and steward, 

 and the parapet (alura) of the chapel. 



Very much larger quantities of Reigate 

 stone were supplied by John Prophete 

 between the years 1351 and 1356 for the 

 works at Windsor Castle. In 1351 and 

 1352, 243 loads were purchased ; in 1353 

 120, including apparently a hundred corbel- 

 stones ; in 1354 to Michaelmas 461 loads. 

 In the remainder of the latter year there were 

 240 loads of the unhewn stone sent from 

 Reigate, and in 1355 to 10 November of that 

 year 250 of squared stone. From the end of 

 1355 to Michaelmas in 1356, 441 loads of 



' Devon, Issues of the Exchequer, 44, 45, 48, 60. 



7 See Exch. K.R. Accts. bdle. 471, No. 6, for 

 the various items cited below as to the supply of 

 Reigate stone at Westminster and ibid. bdle. 492, 

 Nos. 29, 30, and bdle. 493, No. i, for those in 

 connection with the works at Windsor. 



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