Purbeck Marble

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Purbeck Marble is a fossiliferous limestone found in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England. It is a variety of Purbeck stone that has been quarried since at least Roman times as a decorative building stone.

Contents

Geology

Stratigraphically these limestone beds lie towards the top of the Durlston Formation of the Purbeck Group. They were deposited during the Berriasian age of the Early Cretaceous epoch. Purbeck Marble is not a metamorphic rock, like a true marble, but is so-called because it can take a fine polish. Its characteristic appearance comes from densely packed shells of the freshwater snail Viviparus . [1] [2] Sussex Marble is similar in type. The 'marble' is properly classified as a biomicrudite, as it consists of large clasts (the snail shells) in a fine-grained limestone mud matrix. [3]

The individual marble beds (also known as 'seams'), lie between layers of softer marine clays and mudstone, laid down during repeated marine ingressions. Some of the beds contain iron oxide/hydroxide minerals, such as hematite or limonite, giving red or brown varieties, while other beds contain glauconite giving a green (or occasionally blue) colour. [3]

Occurrence

Purbeck Marble is found at outcrop, or beneath superficial cover, all the way across the Isle of Purbeck from Worbarrow Tout in the west to Peveril Point in the east. The marble beds are never more than 1.2 m thick and are often much thinner. The outcrops lie within the Purbeck Monocline, with the beds dipping moderately steeply to the north. [4]

Use

There is a single example of Purbeck Marble being used during the Bronze Age, in a cist at Langton Matravers. During the Romano-British period, Purbeck Marble was used for inscriptions, architectural mouldings and veneers, mortars and pestles, and other articles. [5]

Purbeck Marble was also quarried in medieval times and can be seen in virtually all the cathedrals of the south of England, in columns and slab panels and flooring. For example, it is used in Exeter, Ely, Norwich, Chichester, Salisbury, Lincoln, Llandaff, Southwark and Canterbury Cathedrals, and in Westminster Abbey. [6] Additionally, it was utilised in the 13th-century King's Table, a furnishing previously used in coronation events. [7]

It has been less used in modern times, but a remarkable example is the church at Kingston, Purbeck, Dorset built in 1874–1880. [8]

Other strata of Purbeck Limestone are being quarried at the present time (2021). Purbeck Marble was previously extracted in 1993. [9]

Purbeck Marble is used by a number of contemporary sculptors, such as Emily Young. [10]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swanage</span> Town in England

Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately 6+1⁄4 miles (10 km) south of Poole and 25 miles (40 km) east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 9,601. Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks, with Studland Bay and Poole Harbour to the north. Within the parish are Durlston Bay and Durlston Country Park to the south of the town. The parish also includes the areas of Herston, just to the west of the town, and Durlston, just to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Purbeck</span> Peninsula in Dorset, England

The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. Its western boundary is less well defined, with some medieval sources placing it at Flower's Barrow above Worbarrow Bay. John Hutchins, author of The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, defined Purbeck's western boundary as the Luckford Lake stream, which runs south from the Frome. According to writer and broadcaster Ralph Wightman, Purbeck "is only an island if you accept the barren heaths between Arish Mell and Wareham as cutting off this corner of Dorset as effectively as the sea." The most southerly point is St Alban's Head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durdle Door</span> Natural limestone arch on the Jurassic coast of England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purbeck District</span> Former non-metropolitan district in England

Purbeck was a local government district in Dorset, England. The district was named after the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula that forms a large proportion of the district's area. However, it extended significantly further north and west than the traditional boundary of the Isle of Purbeck which is the River Frome. The district council was based in the town of Wareham, which is itself north of the Frome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durlston Country Park</span> Park in Dorset, England

Durlston Country Park is a 320-acre country park and nature reserve stretching along the coast of the Isle of Purbeck on the outskirts of Swanage in Dorset, England. The park is a popular destination for tourists to enjoy the walks, views, visitor centre, climbing, and wildlife, including Durlston Castle, the Great Globe, Tilly Whim Caves, and Anvil Point Lighthouse. It is a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, forms part of the 630 mile South West Coast Path, and is owned by Dorset Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Dorset</span>

Dorset is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi); it borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The great variation in its landscape owes much to the underlying geology, which includes an almost unbroken sequence of rocks from 200 to 40 million years ago (Mya) and superficial deposits from 2 Mya to the present. In general, the oldest rocks appear in the far west of the county, with the most recent (Eocene) in the far east. Jurassic rocks also underlie the Blackmore Vale and comprise much of the coastal cliff in the west and south of the county; although younger Cretaceous rocks crown some of the highpoints in the west, they are mainly to be found in the centre and east of the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purbeck Group</span> Stratigraphic Group in England

The Purbeck Group is an Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous lithostratigraphic group in south-east England. The name is derived from the district known as the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset where the strata are exposed in the cliffs west of Swanage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worbarrow Bay</span>

Worbarrow Bay is a large broad and shallow bay just to the east of Lulworth Cove on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durlston Bay</span>

Durlston Bay is a small bay next to a country park of the same name, just south of the resort of Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. It has been a renowned site for Lower Cretaceous fossils since the initial discovery of fragments there by Samuel Beckles in the 1850s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peveril Point</span>

Peveril Point is a headland on the east-facing coast of the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England, and is part of the town of Swanage. It forms the southern end of Swanage Bay. It is located at 50°36.43′N01°56.69′W OS Grid Ref: SZ 041 787.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tilly Whim Caves</span> Caves in Dorset, England

Tilly Whim Caves consists of three stone quarries in Durlston Country Park, 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset, southern England. The Tilly Whim Caves are a part of the Jurassic Coast.

Purbeck stone refers to building stone taken from a series of limestone beds found in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Group, found on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset in southern England. The best known variety of this stone is Purbeck Marble. The stone has been quarried since at least Roman times up to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pondfield Cove</span> Cove in Dorset, England

Pondfield Cove is a small, secluded, south-facing cove immediately to the east of Worbarrow Tout and west of Gad Cliff on the south coast of the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset, England. It is about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of Wareham and about 16 kilometres (10 mi) west of Swanage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cow Corner</span>

Cow Corner is the north-western end of Worbarrow Bay, a small secluded bay on the south coast of the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anvil Point</span>

Anvil Point is part of the Jurassic Coast on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. It is within the grounds of Durlston Country Park and is about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Swanage town centre. Anvil Point Lighthouse is located on the point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durlston Castle</span> Castle in the United Kingdom

Durlston Castle stands within Durlston Country Park, a 1.13 square-kilometre (280-acre) country park and nature reserve stretching along the coastline south of Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandy Bay, Dorset</span>

Brandy Bay is a small secluded southwest-facing bay, with an oil shale and shingle beach immediately below Gad Cliff and Tyneham Cap, to the east of Worbarrow Bay and to the west of Hobarrow Bay on the south coast of the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Dorset</span>

Dorset is a county located in the middle of the south coast of England. It lies between the latitudes 50.512°N and 51.081°N and the longitudes 1.682°W and 2.958°W, and occupies an area of 2,653 km2. It spans 90 kilometres (56 mi) from east to west and 63 kilometres (39 mi) from north to south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lulworth Formation</span>

The Lulworth Formation is a geologic formation in England. It dates from the late Tithonian to the mid Berriasian. It is a subunit of the Purbeck Group. In Dorset, it consists of three members, which are in ascending order, the Mupe Member, the Ridgway Member, and the Warbarrow Tout Member. The Mupe Member is typically 11 to 16 m thick and largely consists of marls and micrites with interbeds of calcareous mudstone. The Ridgeway Member is about 3 to 7 m thick and consists of in its western portion carbonaceous muds, marls and micrites, in the east the muds are replaced by micritic limestone. The Warbarrow Tout Member is 17 to 39 m thick and consists of limestone at the base and micrite and mudstone for the rest of the sequence, this member is the primary source of the vertebrate fossils within the formation. Elsewhere the unit is undifferentiated.

References

  1. ↑ Arkell, W. J. (1947), Geology of the country round Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe Castle and Lulworth. London: HMSO for British Geological Survey.
  2. ↑ Clements, R. G. (1993), "Type-section of the Purbeck Limestone Group, Durlston Bay, Swanage, Dorset", Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 114, 181–206.
  3. 1 2 West, I. "Durlston Bay - Peveril Point, Durlston Formation, including Upper Purbeck Group". Geology of the Wessex Coast (Jurassic Coast, UNESCO World Heritage Site). Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  4. ↑ Phillips, J. (1996). "Quarr Houses on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset" (PDF). Mining History. 13 (2): 155–162. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  5. ↑ Beavis, John (1971), "Some aspects of the use of Purbeck Marble in Roman Britain", Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 92, 181–204.
  6. ↑ Leach, Rosemary (1978), An investigation into the use of Purbeck marble in medieval England, 2nd edition. Crediton: the author.
  7. ↑ "Living Heritage: The King's Seat and Table" . Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  8. ↑ Kingston (St James) Church Archived 2007-11-21 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Haysom, Treleven (1998), "Extracting Purbeck Marble", Hatcher Review, 5(45), 48–54.
  10. ↑ Salisbury Cathedral (21 November 2009). "Advent of Archangels - New 'Angel Heads' instillation by Emily Young at Salisbury Cathedral" . Retrieved 10 November 2012.
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