BUILDING STONE9. 471 
course to the north-east through Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, 
and Lincolnshire. 
The term Freestone is applied to stone that " will cut and rive in any 
direction." It may be either a sandstone or a limestone ; and in the case of 
the Oolites, the freestones are usually ferruginous or calcareous sandstones, 
or limestones with closely-packed oolite grains. The rock should be free 
from prominent planes of lamination, as distinct from those of bedding. 
The word Bag is applied to beds, which contain many shells or frag- 
ments of shells, and which on this account are not easy to work. Some 
freestones, like the Ham Hill Stone, are however composed largely of 
comminuted shells. 
The term Weatherstone is employed for any layers of building-stone that 
well withstand the action of the weather, and may be employed as corner 
blocks or for foundations ; for sills, mullions, &c. 
The term Planking is used for thin-bedded stone that may be seviceable 
for paving. 
The term Bastard Stone is applied to inferior or decomposed beds ; as 
Bastard freestone, Bastard Blues (Purbeck Beds of Sussex). 
The terms Ridding, Riddingtop, Quarry-head or Rubbish, are applied by 
quarrymen to the rubbly rock, Drift, " Head," or other material to be 
removed as waste in working a quarry. 
In Northamptonshire the term Kale (or Gale) is used for the soft 
weathered beds of ferruginous sandstone belonging to the Northampton 
Sand ; and in Lincolnshire the same name is applied to soft and rubbly 
beds of the Cornbrash, which is then said to be " kaly." It is also applied 
to other rubbly or rotten beds in these counties. 
Not only do the freestones vary in quality when traced 
laterally, but the different layers even in the same quarry are 
liable to variation in character and thickness. 
Much depends too on the position of the stone with relation to 
the surface. Where the beds are covered up by a stratum of clay, 
the stone usually appears sound all through. Where the stone 
actually occurs at the surface, the uppermost layers are much 
broken up. Hence, as remarked by William Smith, the strata 
frequently occur as follows beneath the surface-soil : 
Bubble ..... Used for road-stone. 
Thin shattered beds ... Used for dry walling. 
Freestone ..... Building-stone. 
These characters are shown in the section near Ancaster. 
(Fig. 59, p. 213.) As the beds are worked further into the hill- 
side, the thin shattered beds pass into Freestone, and the Rubble 
may become Wallstone, and eventually Freestone. 
Firmly compacted oolites and ragstones of uniform character, 
are more durable than the compact and somewhat argillaceous 
limestones, with scattered oolitic grains, that are frequently met 
with in the Lincolnshire Limestone and in the Great Oolite. 
These compact limestones, like many of the Lower Lias lime- 
stones, split up irregulai-ly, and will not withstand frost. 
A crystalline or shelly limestone is more durable than these 
compact and earthy limestones, although the shelly stones may 
exhibit the action of the weather more prominently, as then the 
shell-fragments usually stand out in relief. 
