He used dressings from the upper Greensand known as Reigate Freestone. William the 1 st built The Tower of London reverting to Kentish Rag stone with Caen and Quarr limestones from France. The remains of a Roman Amphitheatre are still preserved and open to the public beneath the Guildhall.Īfter 1066 The Normans introduces new stone mason skills and masonry stones in to the city.Ĭaen stone was used extensively although not considered a very good quality stone in terms of durability. In addition to Kentish Rag stone there is evidence of Flint, Brick, Lincolnshire Limestone, Cotswold white lias, Welch slate along with various imported stones along the ancient walls notably from Italy, Belgium, Greece and Egypt. Temple of Mithras is on Queen Victoria Street. The wall itself can be seen at various locations close to the Tower of London, a location on Tower Hill, Beneath the London Museum, a small section of the stone wall along with one of the defence bastions has been preserved beneath the Merrill Lynch Building and can still be seen in the basement.
Ancient baths were discovered and a substantial tower at Aldgate. Several Roman Buildings were built from the same source including The Temple of Mithras, a building set into the ground and only discovered following a WW2 bombing raid.Ī 2 acre stone Basilica somewhere around the location of St Pauls Cathedral was built. It still had its cargo of 26 tonnes of Kentish Ragstone.
Interestingly a sunken Roman ship was discovered deep in the silt of Blackfriars. It would take up to 3,000 boat loads of block stone to carry an estimated 85,000 tonnes of Rag stone into London. The massive project would require 1 million stone blocks of about the size of a modern day breeze block. A softer stone called hassock lies interbedded with the rag, but it is not clear if this inferior stone was transported to London or discarded for local use! The colour was described as Grey/Green or Grey/Blue, but would mellow with age. The Rag Stone was described as lying in Beds of between 15cm and to 60cm and occasionally 90cm. The local quarries were at Allington, Boughton, Manchelseas, West Farleigh, Teston, Tovil, and Dean Street.Įach of these UK quarries had supporting infrastructure, accommodation blocks, support services and villas for the upper hierarchy. Several quarries were established around Maidstone, all conveniently situated by the River Medway. The Rag belonged to the Hythe Beds of the Lower green sand, a cretaceous Limestone. The building stone of choice was known as “Kentish Rag” named due to its ragged edge when split. Boats could easily navigate the 127km distance using the River Thames and on to the River Medway. The project was described as one of Romans biggest construction projects of all time.įor the building stone material, they turned to the area around Maidstone in Kent.
A 12 acre inner fort to accommodate 1,000 men, administration buildings, storage facilities, etc. The project would involve 3.5 kilometres of stone walls including 20 defensive bastions. Fortunately the city is dissected by the River Thames allowing cargo to reach the heart of the city.ĭuring the late 190’s AD Emperor Septimius Severus embarked on the fortification of the town. London lies on sand and clays, it has no natural building stone of its own. Our research into the stones that built London promoted us to write this fascinating article. Our Clipsham limestone was much liked by Westminster Local Authority who described it as “more interesting than Portland” with warmer tones.
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