Isle Of Purbeck Marble

Purbeck marble is a fossiliferous limestone found in the isle of purbeck a peninsula in south east dorset england it has been quarried since at least roman times as a decorative building stone.

Isle of purbeck marble.

These limestone beds were deposited during lower cretaceous epoch purbeck marble is not a metamorphic rock like a true marble but is so called because it. This industry is no longer active. Purbeck is a district of dorset that takes its name from the peninsula known locally as the isle of purbeck. It can only be obtained from one place and that is the land in the area of corfe on the isle of purbeck in south east dorset.

Purbeck marble was a highly prized building material in the 11th through to 16th centuries with its heyday in the 12th and 13th. Purbeck marble was a highly prized building material in the middle ages especially from the 11th to 16th centuries with its heyday in the 12th and 13th. It was quarried and mined on the isle of purbeck dorset the peninsula south of corfe castle where several beds up to a metre thick occur between layers of soft marine. The english channel to the south and east where steep cliffs fall to the sea.

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of purbeck stone that has been quarried since at least roman times as a decorative building stone but this industry is no longer active. Its western boundary is less well defined with some medieval sources placing it at flower s barrow above worbarrow bay. The earliest known interior use of purbeck marble is probably that of the eight norman horizontally bedded and dowel jointed pillars that the arches to the chapels and aisles spring from on the lantern tower piers. 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.

Uniquely in britain stone has been continuously quarried on the isle of purbeck since shortly after the norman conquest. It can only be obtained from one place and that s land in the area of corfe on the isle of purbeck in south eastern dorset. The skill of purbeck s medieval masons embellished cathedrals and country churches alike with everything. This sixty square mile chunk of land jutting into the english channel is bordered on three sides by water and although not actually an island has an insular character which is largely due to its geography.

Not a true metamorphic marble but a polishable micritic limestone packed with abundant gastropod fossils the freshwater snail viviparus from the peveril point member of the lower cretaceous age durlston formation. And by the marshy lands of the river frome and poole harbour to the north. Purbeck marble decorates many of our most famous buildings including westminster abbey and canterbury cathedral.