The Monument
- Monument to the Great Fire of London -
The Monument to the Great Fire of London, more commonly known simply as the Monument, is a Doric column in the City of London, near the northern end of London Bridge, which commemorates the Great Fire of London.
(More information on the monument further down. BUT first the earth lesson.)
Sedimentary Rocks
About 75% of the Earth’s continental crust is covered by sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rocks form from pre-existing rock particles - igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary. The parent rock undergoes weathering by chemical and/or physical mechanisms into smaller particles. These particles are transported by ice, air or water. Deposition takes place as a result of a lowering of energy, organic biochemical activity or chemical changes.
Once deposited, the sediments, over time, are lithified (turned into rock) through compaction (decrease in rock volume due to the weight of overlying sediment) and cementation (chemical precipitation in pore spaces between grains which "glues" the rock together). The primary mineralogical and textural characteristics of the rock can be modified as the sediments are buried deeper in the earth's crust and undergo an increase in both temperature and pressure. These low-pressure, low-temperature changes are termed diagenesis.
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major public buildings in London such as St Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. It is also exported to many countries—Portland stone is used in the United Nations headquarters building in New York City, for example.
Portland Stone formed in a marine environment, on the floor of a shallow, warm, sub-tropical sea probably near land (as evidenced by fossilized driftwood, which is not uncommon). When seawater is warmed by the sun, its capacity to hold dissolved gas is reduced, consequently dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere as a gas. Calcium and bicarbonate ions within the water are then able to combine, to form calcium carbonate (CaCO3) as a precipitate. The process of lime scale build up in a kettle in hard water areas is similar. Calcium carbonate is the principal constituent of most limestones. Billions of minute crystals of precipitated calcium carbonate (called calcite) accumulated forming lime mud (called micrite) which covered the sea floor. Small particles of sand or organic detritus, such as shell fragments, formed a nucleus, which became coated with layers of calcite as they were rolled around in the muddy micrite. The calcite gradually accumulated (by accretion) around the fragments of shell in concentric layers, forming small balls (of less than 0.5 mm diameter). This process is similar to the way in which a snowball grows in size as it is rolled around in the snow. Over time, countless billions of these balls, known as "ooids" or "ooliths" (from the Greek for "egg-shaped" or "egg-stone"), became partially cemented together (or lithified) by more calcite, to form the oolitic limestone we now call Portland Stone. Fortunately, the degree of cementation in Portland Stone is such that the stone is sufficiently well cemented to allow it to resist weathering but not so well cemented that it can't be readily worked (cut and carved) by masons. This is one of the reasons why Portland Stone is so favoured as a monumental and architectural stone.
Fossils
Crinoids
Crinoids inhabited shallow water and grew in dense clusters, sometimes called 'crinoid gardens' because of their resemblance to plants. Long stems were anchored to the sea bed, and held aloft a globose, cup-like structure with radiating arms. The whole animal is formed of many individual plates that usually become scattered when the creature dies. The stem plates are common fossils and the main constituent of crinoidal limestone.
Corals
Like modern-day coral reefs, the abundant remains of fossil corals in the Carboniferous limestone suggest the former existance of warm, clear, shallow and well-lit tropical seas. Corals have a variety of branching and encrusting shapes that provide homes for other creatures and act as a baffle to trap sediment. Different kinds of fossil corals occur at different levels in the limestone, allowing geologists to distinguish between older and younger beds.
Brachiopods
Brachiopods have become all but extinct in modern seas and oceans, but in the geological past they flourished at the shallow margins of oceans, especially in the Carboniferous. At first they appear little different from familiar modern-day sea shells, but they are in fact quite distinct, with different shell and soft part anatomy. Many brachiopods lived openly on the sea bed, but some such as Lingula, occurring near the base of the Carboniferous Limestone, inhabited burrows. Two important groups of brachiopods in the Carboniferous are strongly radially ribbed forms, called spiriferids, and large, less strongly ribbed forms with relatively plano-convex valves, called 'productids'.
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Questions
1. Answer the questions under by visiting the Coordinates.
A. What type of stone is a Portland stone?
B. How many million years ago was it formed in the shallow seas?
C. Describe the texture and color of the stone and its surface.
D. Do we have any fossils in the stone used for the monument? Take a trip around the monument and see if you can see any fossils, what types of fossils was found? (crinoids/corals/brachiopods). And are there more fossils at the North, South, West or East facing wall?
E. Go to the west faces side and read the description saying: THE MONUMENT, in the text you will find a chemical element mentioned that supports the vase of flames.
2. Take a photo of yourself, the group or your GPS when logging the cache.
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Monument to the Great Fire of London
There are four inscriptions chiselled around the sides. The one on the north describes how the Great Fire of London started, and the one on the south shows King Charles II taking action after the event. The words on the east side describe how the Monument was built.
The Monument invites you to climb its 311 spiral steps and enjoy one of the best views over the City.
The Great Fire
The Great Fire began in a bakery owned by the King’s baker, Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane on September 2nd 1666 - just 202 feet from the site of The Monument today. The bakery ovens were not properly extinguished and the heat created sparks, which set alight Thomas’s wooden home.
At that time most buildings in the City were made of wood, and that, coupled with a dry summer, meant the flames spread with pace throughout the City. The fire raged for four days and during that time one third of all buildings in London were destroyed, 86% of the City was burnt to the ground and 130,000 people were made homeless.
Fortunately there was limited loss of life during the Great Fire. However, the maid who discovered the fire is one of those that sadly perished.
The Great Fire spread rapidly and most Londoners thought only of escaping – they went to the river where they bundled their goods onto boats, or they ventured to fields outside London (Moorfields) where they set up shelter.
With no fire service to call on, the extinguishing of the flames was left to Londoners, they did acquire the services of soldiers, but they had little resources with only buckets of water, water squirts and fire hooks to hand. The plan to halt the fire hinged on creating a gap between the houses so the fire couldn't spread, but the strong winds meant the fire jumped across the gap, and raged on. Eventually the fire was stopped on the 4th day after creating widespread damage across the City of London.
(View from top of the monument.)
It took nearly fifty years to rebuild the burnt area of the City, with 85 churches including St Paul’s Cathedral destroyed. Parliament enforced new guidelines for the rebuilding of the City including the implementation of wider roads and the construction of houses from brick and stone rather than timber.
