several varieties. There is the shallow flat slab of lime-
stone, called " roach", which, like the Lias further inland,
is so largely used for pavements of streets and of houses ;
another sort of harder quality is very serviceable for
firebricks, while the more common and more generally
known under the name of " Parbeck stone", lies at much
greater depth and in much thicker layers, and is worked
in long tunnelled galleries. This is an article of wide-
spread commerce, and while, like Caen or Bath stone,
comparatively soft and workable when first dug out,
becomes very hard by exposure to the air. It is very
largely used for building purposes, and is transported in
shiploads, formerly from Owre, and now from the
Swanage pier, to all parts of the country. In the neigh-
bourhood of Swanage itself is a vein of still harder
character, very full of minute marine shells, and capable
of receiving a high polish. This is much used in the
more ornamental parts of buildings.
But besides and above all these varieties of stone, the
Isle of Purbeck obtains its celebrity from a very early
date for its beautiful marble. This lies on different
parts of this limestone ridge, only a few feet below the
surface, and is especially dear to the architect and
archseologist.
The writer spent a long morning last September ni
a quarry which had been recently opened, and had the
opportunity of examining the formation with some care,
and of bringing away some specimens of the three layers
AND ITS MARBLE. G3
which it contained, for the scientific details of which he
is indebted to some geological friends. None of these
strata are above 12 in. in depth, and are all composed
of freshwater shells, embedded in a compact limestone
conglomerate. The upper stratum is of a slate-like,
bluish-grey colour, the middle one of slightly paler tone,
both filled with minute particles of shells, chiefiy uni-
valves ; while the lower stratum is a greenish-grey, more
closely compact, with occasional sections of bivalves.
Here we meet with specimens of Unio, Lymnsea, Cypris,
Paludina, Planorbis ; and some apparently so rare as to
be distinguished by the name of the locality, as Cypris
Purheckensis, etc. All three admit of a very high polish,
presenting a surface of rare beauty.
This is the material to which the archaeologist and the
architect turn with special delight as they detect it in
our Cathedrals and Churches, rising up in graceful shafts
to relieve with its darker, brighter colouring the more
subdued and sombre-toned piers, window-jambs, and
doorways. The thinness of the strata, already alluded
to, will account for the manner in which it ordinarily
appears : not in segments or blocks, like the stone by its
side, but raised up, end-on (so to say) in one unbroken
length ; which also accounts for its too frequent decay,
either outside a building, when exposed to the weather,
or inside, when suffering from the vitreous emanations
from the heating apparatus. While in its natural state
it lay in its bed horizontally, it is now placed vertically ;
and thus, rain or gas acting on its surface against the
grain, it is always liable to scale off and perish, unless
periodically and carefully wiped down, or rubbed over, as
is the case in the Temple Church.
When this marble was first used for building purposes
it may be difficult to say. It has been hinted that it
may be found in some Roman work, but this is doubtful.
The earliest date which can with any authority be
assigned to it for use in ecclesiastical buildings would
probably be the very beginning of the thirteenth
century, and from then it was clearly very popular for
decorative purposes for the next two centuries and a
half During that period it was in very general request
64 THE ISLE OF PUEBECK
in all parts of England. We naturally expect to find it
first in some of the neighbouring cathedrals ; and here it
appears.^ A very destructive fire had nearly robbed
Chichester of its old Norman cathedral in 1187, and
when Bishop SefFrid II began the work of restoration,
he applied to the Crown (for Purbeck was then a royal
manor) for permission to obtain some of its treasured
marble. A grant was made in 1204,^ which shows the
high repute in which this material was held. The
bailiffs of the seaports of Dorset were not only ordered
to allow whatever might be required for Chichester
Cathedral to " pass free and without hindrance", but
they were to " take security even from the men sent by
the Bishop that they would convey it to Chichester and
no ivhere else." And two years after, a second order was
issued^ for a further supply. That it reached its desti-
nation may be seen in the triple arcade of the clerestory,
with its Purbeck marble shafts, and also in other parts
of the cathedral.
At Winchester Bishop Godfrey de Lucy was about
the same time engaged in adding to that noble Norman
pile his Early English retro-choir, embellishing it with
the same choice material. Then, further to the west,
Bishop Poore, of Salisbury, was planning the removal of
his Episcopal Chair from Old Sarum to the present far
more picturesque site on the banks of the Wiltshire
Avon ; and, as its graceful fabric rose, there rose in it
those fragile-looking and unique groups of marble pillars
wdiich form the charm of the Lady Chapel.
Passing on to Wells, with its more massive towers and
its unrivalled western screen, every part of the interior
of the Cathedral shows how highly Bishop Josceline,
whose name is so inseparably connected with it, de-
lighted to bring the treasures of Purbeck for its adorn-
ment. Still further west, too, at Exeter, with its only
^ For much of the information contained in these pages, the writer
desires to acknowledge the valuable help of the late and the present
Deans of Winchester, Canon Church of Wells, Dr. Brushfield of Bud-
leigh Salterton, Devon, and other obliging friends.
^ Patent Roll, 6 John, m. 2.
3 P. R., 8 John, m. 4.
AND ITS MARBLE. 65
less richly sculptured fa9ade, we find so early as the year
1233 the Chapter entering into a contract with " William
Canon, a Mason of Corfe,"^ to supply a large quantity of
Purbeck marble for the nave of the cathedral ; there were
to be twelve columns and several half-columns, with
bases and capitals, at a cost of £1,309 10.9. : a goodly
sum in those days. Here the marble appears in a some-
what unusual form, being placed not only in long shafts
end-on^ but also in drums or segments, when required to
bear its share of the weight.
Before this thirteenth century had half run its course,
the fame of this marble had clearly travelled far afield.
The " Early English" nave of the Temple Church bears
witness in its shafts and knightly monuments to a
recognition of its value ; as also does its contemporary
building of Lambeth Palace Chapel, which the Savoyard
Primate Boniface, under compulsion from the Pope, was
restoring, as an expiatory offering after his brutal
attack on the monks of St. Bartholomew the Great in
Smithfield.
Royalty, too, was ready to bear testimony to its
worth, for, about the same time (or ten years later),
Henry III, while careful to strengthen the Tower of
London, had sent for five shiploads of this marble^ to
beautify his chapel there, for the Tower was his occa-
sional residence as well as his fortress. And a few
years later (1258 and 1268), a further and still larger
supply was shipped for the use of Westminster
Abbey.
Here, too, are the Purbeck marble columns and shafts
which are most familiar to the eye of the London sight-
seer, relieving pier after pier in every part of the
stately building. These were brought here in 1350 by
Edward HI, when he was setting his seal to the pious
work of the Confessor. For this purpose no less than
144 yards of marble were at one time brought " from Corf
to the King's bridge at Westminster."''
1 Oliver's Lives of the Bishops of Exeter, p. 179, and App. IV,
p. 379.
2 Pipe Roll, 34, 42, and 52 Henry III.
^ J. T. Smitli's Antiquities of Westminster, p. 203.
Ib'JG 5
QQ THE ISLE OF PURBECK
Meanwhile Canterbury^ and Rochester^ had become
alive to its beauty, the one under " English William as its
Architect," and the other under Bishops Gilbert de
Granville and Henry de Sandford. But before the
thirteenth century was over, the fame and value of this
decorative marble had reached Norwich and even Ely,
and had a place in their cathedrals.
It must not be supposed, however, that the southern
and eastern counties, though naturally the first, were
alone in adopting the use of this striking marble for the
enrichment of their buildings, though there are instances
in which a somewhat doubtful claim is put forth by local
cicerones. For example, take that magnificent Minster
at York. There the visitor is shown what are declared
to be Purbeck marble columns and shafts in the clerestory
of the nave and in the stalls of the Chapter-house ; yet
a reference to the " Fabric Rolls " will show that in each
case the decorative marble came, not from Purbeck, but
from the rival quarries at Petworth, in the same county.^
In the Midlands, however, though they had marbles
of their own of high repute, are to be found many speci-
mens of Purbeck. Perhaps the most notable, and best
known, is to be seen in the princely Beauchamp Chapel
attached to the parish church at Warwick. Here not
only the body of the monument of the great Earl
Richard, who died in 1439, and whose tomb is said to
have been erected about 1450, but the very pavement of
the chapel, is composed of it. The agreement between
the executors of the Earl and " John Bourde, marbler
of Corfe," to supply the necessary materials has been
preserved by Dugdale.'^ One other monument, as being
probably the latest of those in which this marble was
1 Under the head of " Expensa" of the Monastery of St. Augustine,
there is an entry, under the year 1265, '-'Pro Ixvj columpnis marmo-
rois soluti monacliis Sancti Augustini Ixij sol. x den.", and those in the
Cathedral were pro>)ably a few years earlier.
2 Jn Rochester the shafts of the presbytery and in the choir (proper),
the whole, bases and shafts, are pronounced to be of Purbeck, clearly
belonging to the earlier half of the thirteenth century.
^ .See Brown's Uistory of the Metropolitical Church of York, pp. 71,
92, 98, and 103.
* Appendix to the Uistory of Warwickshire.
AND ITS MARBLE. 67
used (until its late revival) may be noticed : it stands in
the parish church of East Budleigh, Devon, and is to the
memory of Joan Raleigh, the first wife of Walter,
the father of the illustrious Sir Walter Ilaleigh. The
date of this monument is said to be between 1530
and 1540. This would seem to bring to a close the
period during which Purbeck marble had been used, and
for the last 300 years only very rarely even for monu-
ments. How it came that this beautiful marble fell
into such utter disuse for so many ^^ears seems strange,
and has been accounted for by two distinct and different
theories : one being that the quarries had become ex-
hausted, or, more probably, had been carried so far into
the hillsides as to make the further working so expensive
as to be prohibitory ; the other being that marbles from
Devonshire or Derbyshire, and the introduction, too, of
foreign marbles, softer and less difficult to work, had
driven the Purbeck marble "out of the market". Indeed,
so completely does it seem to have passed into desuetude,
that Mr. Farrer, a Purbeck man, in a paper^ read before
the "Purbeck Society", in the year 1859, said that the
marble for which that district had been so famed, and of
which it had been so proud, " belonged to a past age".-
He says it was a region " better known as the former
parent of Purbeck marble than by any distinction of the
present day."
Yet he must have been unconscious that the silence of
the marbler's pickaxe and hammer had been broken at
Woodyside so recently as 1840, when a quarry was
opened there to supply material for repairing and re-
placing the shafts in the Temple Church, which six
centuries of exposure to London smoke and fog had so
sadly dimmed and caused to scale of!. Since then, too,
another quarry has been opened for the marble which
has been lavishly introduced into the new church at
Kingston in 18G2 by the Earl of Devon, under the super-
vision of the eminent architect, George Street.
1 British Museum, No. 1229.
- This refers exclusively to the marble ; the stone quarries have
been and still are in full working order, and continue to supply mate-
rial to all parts of the country.
6«
68 THE ISLE OF PURBECK
It ma}' well raise a smile that any man should have
been so sceptical as to its existence as a marble at all,
and have insinuated that, after all, it was a mere compo-
sition of paste and various materials moulded into shape
and highly polished, till it became as hard as marble and
smooth as glass/
A.nd now, within the last three years, the bed already
alluded to in these pages has been discovered and re-
opened in the parish of Langton Maltravers,"^ to vindicate
the claim of the Isle of Purbeck to its marble.
Any account of this district would be incomplete with-
out some allusion to the men who work the quarries, for
they constitute a little Guild or society among them-
selves, and are a self-governing, close corporation. They
claim a very ancient charter of rights and privileges, of
which they are very proud and tenacious. The original
charter, which was said to date from the times of the
early Edwards, has, indeed, been lost (burnt, it is
believed, in a great fire at Corfe Castle), but a reputed
copy of it is said to be extant, and they produce "Articles
of Agreement" based on it, bearing date the year 1551.
They form a regularly constituted Society, under the title
of " The Corporation of Royal Marblers." Their executive
consists of two Wardens and two Vice- Wardens or
Stewards. By virtue of their charter they monopolise
the right of working any quarry ; and to such an extent
is this realised that, when, a few years ago, an indepen-
dent landowner proposed to open a quarry on his own
land, the Marblers rose in a body and threatened to
resort to force in vindication of their supposed right ; and
so resolute was their attitude that he thought it wiser
to abandon his claim. Like many such antique Corpora-
tions, — and, indeed, more so than many of them, — the
Society is strictly hereditary : only the legitimate son of
a " Royal Marbler", or the son of a married daughter, is
admissible into the Guild. Their boys are formally appren-
1 See Archa'ologia, vol. iv, p. 104.
- Mr. T. A. Brown, stonemason in tliat parish, to whom the writer
is indebted for much of the information here given, writes to liim,
"Only a few days ago I sent away the finest truck of marble I had
ever seen, one block weighing 3 tons."
AND ITS MARBLE. 69
ticed to freemen, and according to a singular custom
(rigidly observed to the present day), when their time is
up they present themselves on Shrove Tuesday at Corfe
Castle " with a penny loaf in one hand, and a pot of beer
in the other", and thus, then and there, take out their
freedom. So close is their community that no outsider
can work in any quarry without express permission.
Another singular feature of their Guild must also be
noticed. Not only have they names for their various
beds of freestone, known only among themselves, but the
very terms in use among them for their several tools are
quite different from those ordinarily heard in Dorsetshire.
For instance, with them the handle of a hammer is called
an "elf"; scotching of wheels, "trigs"; eyes for fasten-
ing chains to, " drails"; and other such terms.^ From
this peculiarity it has been thought by some that proba-
bly the original workers of these quarries were foreigners
who had settled here, and had adopted this mode to
keep themselves distinct from their neighbours, and to
maintain their exclusive position.
Is it past all hope that, as the deep freestone beds
have for so many centuries maintained their high repute,
the opening out of this new marble quarry, from which
large quantities are being carried oft' week by week for
use in the noble work the Duke of Norfolk is engaged
upon at Arundel, may be the means of enabling the archi-
tects of the close of the nineteenth century to emulate
the skill and taste of their ancestors in the craft of the
thirteenth, in imparting to the many goodly Churches
and Cathedrals now rising up throughout the country
some of the bright, warm tones of its far-famed Purbeck
marble ?
1 Halliwell {Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words) certainly
gives " Trigen" as a"skidpan for a wheel", and " Drail" as "a toothed
iron projecting from the beam of a plough", but no word resembling
"Elf" as a handle of a hammer. Nor are '"Trig" and "Drail" com-
monly current in the county.
Britis!) 9[rri;aealajjtcal ^fssoriation.
FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONGRESS,
STOKE-ON-TRENT, 1895.
MONDAY, AUGUST 12th, to SATURDAY, AUGUST 17th.
PRESIDENT.
His Grace the DUKE of SUTHERLAND, K.G.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
The Duke of Norfolk, K.G., Earl
Marshal
The Marquess of Bute, K.T., LL.D.
The Marquess of Ripon, K.G.,
G.C.S.I.
The Right Hon. The Earl of Dart-
mouth, Lord Lieutenant of the
County of Stafford
The Earl of Hardwicke
The Right Hon. The Earl of Har-
ROWBY
The Right Hon. The Earl of Lich-
field
The Earl of Mount - Edgcumbe,
D.C.L.
The Earl Nelson
The Earl of Northbrook, G.C.S.I.
The Earl of Winchilsea and Not-
tingham
The Right Rev. The Lord Bishop of
St. David's, D.D.
The Right Rev. The Lord Bishop of
Ely, D.D.
The Right Rev. The Lord Bishop of
Llandaff, D.D., F.S.A.
The Rkjht Rev. The Lord Bishop of
Lichfield
The Right Rev. The Lord Bishop of
Shrewsbury
The Right Hon. Baron Hatherton
The Right Hon. Arthur Baron
Wbottesljsv
Sir Chas. H. Rouse Boughton, Bart.
Sir Morton Buller, Bart.
Sir Smith Child, Bart.
Sir John Evans, K.C.B., D.C.L.,
LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A.
Sir Augustus W. Franks, K.C.B.,
D.Litt., F.R.S., RS.A.
Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart.
Sir Albert Woods, K.C.MG., F.S.A.
(Garter King of Arms)
Colonel G. G. Adams, F.S.A.
J. T. Arlidge, Esq., M.A., M.D.
LOND.
Thomas Blashill, Esq., F.Z.S.
Cecil Brent, Esq., F.S.A.
P. M. Brocklehurst, Esq.
W. S. Brough, Esq.
Arthur Gates, Esq., F.R.LB.A.
The Chairman of the Urban Dis-
trict Council of Fenton
The Chairman of the Urban Dis-
trict Council of Tunstall
W. Challinor, Esq.
C. H. CoMPTON, Esq.
William H. Cope, Esq., F.S.A.
Rev. J. H. Crump, M.A.
H Syer Cuming, Esq., F.S. A.Scot.
Rev. T. W. Daltry, M.A., F.L.S.,
F.E.S.
R. W. Hanbury, Esq., M.P.
James Heywood, Esq., F.R.S., FS.A.
F. E, Kitchener, Esq., M.A., F.L.S,
n
Vice-Presidents — continued.
The Venerable Archdeacon Lane
The Very Rev. The Dean of Lich-
field
Rev. S. M. Mayhew, M.A.
The Mayor of Burslem
The Mayor of Hanley
The Mayor of Longton
The Mayor of Newcastle, Stafford-
shire
The Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent
Francis Monckton, Esq., High Sheriff
of the County
J. S. Phene, Esq., LL.D., F.S.A.,
F.G.S., F.R.G.S.
Rev. Edward Philips.
Rev. Canon W. S. Simpson, D.D.
F.S.A.
John Sleigh, Esq.
R. Sxeyd, Esq.
W. D. Spanton, Esq., F.R.C.S.E.
T. W. Twyford, Esq.
Godfrey Wedgwood, Esq.
Major-General Wrottesley
Allan Wyon, Esq., F.S.A.
GENERAL LOCAL COMMITTEE.
W. D. Spanton, Esq., Chairman.
S. King Alcock, Esq.
F. Ash, Esq.
J. A. AuDLEY, Esq.
F. Barke, Esq.
F. Beach, Esq.
Rev. W. Beresford
W. Wells Bladen, Esq.
Ernest W. H. Blagg, Esq.
E. BosTOCK, Esq.
H. E. Brothers, Esq.
W. S. Brough, Esq.
Rev. G. B. Brown
J. L. Cherry, Esq.
RoBT. T. Collins, Esq.
Rev. J. H. Crump
Rev. T. W. Daltry
A. T. Daniel, Esq.
E. Earl, Esq.
W. H. Earl, Esq.
W. H. Goss, Esq.
T. Hampton, Esq.
SY. Hampton, Esq.
J. L. Hamshaw, Esq.
Dr. Hind
L. H. Jahn, Esq.
Jas. Kirkby, Esq.
F. E. Kitchener, Esq.
C. Lynam, Esq.
H. M. Lynam, Esq.
Dr. MacAldowie
John R. B. Masefield, Esq.
Alfred Meigh, Esq.
R. MiLNER, Esq.
G. A. Mitcheson, Esq.
J. W. Moore, Esq.
Geo. Orme, Esq.
Rev. F. p. Parker
W. Partington, Esq.
Morton Philips, Esq.
W. D. Phillipps, Esq.
R. H. Read, Esq.
Chas. Reid, Esq.
W. H. Ridge, Esq.
Rev. Gilbert Royds
Rev. G. Ryves
A. Scrivener, Esq.
D. Sherwin, Esq.
T. J. Smith, Esq.
J. M. Taylor, Esq.
S. Unwin, Esq.
J. Ward, Esq.
T. Wardle, Esq.
T. S. WiLKiNs, Esq.
LOCAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
A. Scrivener, Esq., Chairman,
J. P.. AsHWELL, Esq.
S. Barker, Esq.
F. Barke, Esq.
J. BiRKS, Esq.
W. Wells Bladen, Esq.
J. Blakie, Esq.
W. S. Brough, Esq.
Rev. J. H. Crump
Rev. T. W. Daltry
A. T. Daniel, Esq,
C. E, DeRance, Esq.
Dr. Hind
T. Hulme, Esq.
J. Kirkby, Esq.
C. Lynam, Esq.
J. R. B. Masefield, Esq.
W. D. Spanton, Esq.
T. Taylor, Esq.
J. Taylor, Esq.
S. Unwin, Esq.
T. Wardle, Esq.
T. S. Wilkins, Esq.
72
GENERAL COUNCIL.
J. RojMiLLY Allen, Esq., F. S.A.Scot.
Algernon Bkent, Esq., F.R.G.S.
Rev. J. Cave-Browne, M.A.
A. S. Flower, Esq., M.A.
J. P. Harrison, Esq., M.A,
R. HoRSFALL, Esq.
W. E. Hughes, Esq.
A. G. Langdon, Esq.
Richard Lloyd, Esq.
J. T. Mould, Esq.
W. J. Nichols, Esq.
A. Oliver, Esq.
W. H. Rylands, Esq., F.S.A.
R. E. Way, Esq.
Benjamin Winstone, Esq., M.D.
Hon. Treasurer — E, P. Loftus Brock, Esq., F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.,
16, Red Lion Square, W.C.
Vice- Treasurer — S. Rayson, Esq., 32, Sackville Street, Piccadilly, W.
I W. de Gray Birch, Esq., F.S.A., British Museum.
Hon.' Secretaries \ George Patrick, Esq., A. R.I. B. A., 16 Red Lion
t Square, W.C.
Hon. Local Secretary — Charles Lynam, Esq., F.R.I.B.A., Stoke-on- Trent.
*^>5,
(proceebtnge of tU Con^vcce.
MONDAY, 12 AUGUST.
The members were received in the Council Chamber by the Mayor
(Mr. J. Birks), Aldermen W. Kirkham and H. N. Marks, Councillors
G. Bennett, W. F. Holtom, N. Emery, Hargreaves, Lease, E. W.
Sale, Edwards, Massey, and Riseley, and Mr. J. B. Ash well. Town
Clerk.
The Mayor said it gave him great pleasure to acknowledge the
honour which the British Archaeological Association had done to
Stoke by making it the place of their annual meeting. He, on behalf
of the inhabitants, the Corporation, and himself, extended to them a
liearty welcome, and hoped they would have a pleasant time in the
district. If the weather should prove at all favourable, judging from
the programme, they would return to their homes at the end of the
week with pleasurable feelings, and, he trusted, not without profit and
satisfaction.
Mr. W. S. Brough, on behalf of the members of the North Stafibrd-
shire Naturalists' Field Club and Archieological Society, offered a few
words of welcome to the visitors.
Mr. Thomas Blashill thanked the Mayor and Corporation for the
hearty welcome they had extended to the members of the association.
A visit was then made to Stoke Parish Church, under the guidance
of Mr. C. Lynam and Mr. W. D. Spanton. The monument to Josiah
Wedgwood, on the north wall, was removed from the old church to the
present edifice. Wedgwood was buried in the churchyard outside the
church at the north-west corner. Mr. Lynam pointed out a carved
stone of Stoke old church. It has been used as a lintel to a doorway.
It Avas broken at the time it was found, and pieced together as they
now saw it. It was thought better not to put anytliing more to it,
but that it should remain intact and tell its own story. He then
described the recovery of the stones forming the thiee arches from the
river Trent. First of all they were roughly placed together. Then
the Rector expressed a wisli that they should be put up in their old
74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONGRESS.
place. Search was made, plans of the old church were found, and the
result was the whole outline was discovered. Under the porch was
Josiah Wedgwood's tomb.
The stones taken from the river had not been shaped or tooled in
any way, but had been placed together in the same form they took in
the original church. There were drawings of the old church, which
helped to illustrate where the lines were, and this made the work easy.
There were views from the south-east and from the south-west, so that
it was easy to make out the outline of the church. On the glebe
property, a shaft of the ancient font was deposited, and it was
brought to the churchyard, so that there was the original font of
thirteenth-century work.
From Stoke churchyard the visitors drove to Bury Bank, near
Stone, undoubtedly occupied in Saxon times. It was an irregular