BUILDING STONES: INFERIOR OOLITE SERIES 477 
At Westington Hill Quarry, above Chipping Campden, oolitic freestones 
are worked beneath a covering of 18 or 20 feet of marly limestones. &c. 
The upper bed of freestone is a false-bedded shelly oolite, with closely 
packed grains : it is used for planking, covering drains, culverts, and 
road-mending. The White post below is used for building ; and still 
lower is the Yellow Bed, used for carving, for which purpose it is better 
adapted than the White Bed, as it is moister. 12 to 14 cubic feet go the 
ton, one cubic foot; weighing about li cwt. (See p. 141.) 
The Chipping Norton limestone iis locally used for building, purposes, 
and some beds are employed for paving, but it is a rock of variable 
character. 
Lincolnshire Limestone. 
It is only at certain horizons in the Lincolnshire Limestone that we 
find beds of good freestone, or rag suitable for building-purposes. The 
mass of the formation consists of more or less earthy and compact lime- 
stones with scattered oolite grains, that seldom yield durable material for 
outside work. The better kinds of stone of this character are the Stam- 
ford Marble and the Silver Bed of Lincoln. 
Sometimes the best freestone or rag occurs at or near the top of the 
series, as at Kctton, Stamford, Casterton, Clipsham, Ponton, and Ancaster 
(Haydor and Wilsford quarries) ; or at a somewhat lower horizon, as at 
Weldon ; and sometimes, near the base, as at Barnack. 
Locally, hard beds occur at different horizons, and in the lower portion 
of the series west of Ancaster railway-station, there is a rough rock that 
has been used for harbour works. 
The Ancaster Stone comprises about 12 or 13 feet of freestone. (See 
p. 212.) It has been used in Lincoln Cathedral, Belvoir Castle, Wollaton 
Hall, Belton House, Boston Church, and numerous other churches in 
Lincolnshire. Some of the stone used (before 1889) in the University 
College, Nottingham, failed, from the fact that although the best stone 
or " Firsts " was contracted for, a great deal of " Seconds " or worse 
(inferior or unseasoned stone) was obtained by the sub-contractor. 
The Barnack Rag is coarsely-bedded shelly oolite, 3 or 4 feet thick, and 
blocks of 30 cubic feet and upwards, weighing 2 or 3 tons have been 
obtained. (See p. 199.) The stone has been used in Peterborough Cathedral, 
Croyland Abbey, Biirleigh House, and in Boston, Stamford, Ketton, Colly - 
jveston, Kettering, Moulton, Spalding, Holbeach, and other churches in 
Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. 
No doubt this was one of the earliest formations quarried; and it is 
interesting to read of the freestone " at Barneck, Barnack or Barnoak, 
from whence King Wolfere, A.D. 664, built Peterborough Abbey : here 
eight pair of oxen were required to move one block. From Barneck 
quarries were built the Abbeys of Eumsey and St. Edmunds Bury."* 
The Ketton freestone is a pale oolite. As remarked by Prof. Judd, it 
is highly valued by architects, and its employment is frequently specified 
by them in cases where great strength is required in any particular con- 
struction. The slight thickness of the bed, however (only 3 or 4 feet), and 
the large quantities of " bearing " which require to be removed in order 
to obtain it, renders it expensive and prevents its more general use.f 
Blocks measuring 3x2x3 feet, and others of smaller size, are now 
obtained. The stone was employed in the construction of St. Dunstan'e, 
Fleet Street (upper part), of some of the Colleges at Cambridge, parts of 
Ely and Peterborough Cathedrals, and of the Abbey at Bury St. Edmunds. 
The Weldon freestone is worked partly in the open and partly under- 
ground. It is sawn out in situ. Blocks from 40 to 140 cubic feet in size, 
and weighing 16 cubic feet to the ton, are obtained. It has been used in 
the reparation of the west front of Rochester Cathedral (1892). (See also 
pp. 191, 204.) 
* Townsend, Character of Moses, p. 151. 
t Judd, Geol. Rutland, p. 155. 
