Isle Of Purbeck Marble

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of purbeck stone that has been quarried since at least roman times as a decorative building stone but this industry is no longer active.

Isle of purbeck marble. 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. 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 is a district of dorset that takes its name from the peninsula known locally as the isle of purbeck. 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 size of the lantern pier base plates red arrowed below that these pillars stand upon suggest there may well have. 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. 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. 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.

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. The skill of purbeck s medieval masons embellished cathedrals and country churches alike with everything. The isle of purbeck is a peninsula in dorset england it is bordered by water on three sides.

Its western boundary is less well defined with some medieval sources placing it at flower s barrow above worbarrow bay. 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 decorates many of our most famous buildings including westminster abbey and canterbury cathedral. 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.

This industry is no longer active. 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. And by the marshy lands of the river frome and poole harbour to the north.