The learning aspect of this EarthCache is all about Portland Stone: what it is, where it is from and its impact on the London skyline post the great Fire of London.
The listed coords are for the Facade of the impressive St John's at Waterloo Church. A brief history:
St John the Evangelist Waterloo, Grade II* was constructed 1822-24 to designs by Francis Bedford and built over swampy ground close to the Thames. It was one of 612 Commissioners’ Churches intended for a rapidly growing urban population and is the largest of four in Lambeth, all in the Greek Revival style. The others are St Matthew’s Brixton, St Mark’s Kennington, and St Luke’s Norwood.
St John’s enjoyed a large congregation. A census of 1851 records congregations of 736 in the morning and 719 in the evening. During the 19th and early 20thcenturies, to make its plain Georgian interior more “church-like”, the interior was remodeled by some of the great church architects of the time, Arthur Blomfield, J. J. Stevenson, and Ninian Comper. By 1927 the chancel had an elaborate dark oak reredos, marble floors and over the altar, a large pillared canopy, known as a baldacchino.
In 1877, Octavia Hill, later one of the founders of the National Trust, led a campaign to clear London churchyards of their graves and open them as gardens for the urban poor. She is said to have been delighted by the results at St John’s and to have paid for the inscription of a line of poetry by George Herbert along the church’s garden wall.St John the Evangelist Waterloo, Grade II* was constructed 1822-24 to designs by Francis Bedford and built over swampy ground close to the Thames. It was one of 612 Commissioners’ Churches intended for a rapidly growing urban population and is the largest of four in Lambeth, all in the Greek Revival style. The others are St Matthew’s Brixton, St Mark’s Kennington, and St Luke’s Norwood.
St John’s enjoyed a large congregation. A census of 1851 records congregations of 736 in the morning and 719 in the evening. During the 19th and early 20thcenturies, to make its plain Georgian interior more “church-like”, the interior was remodeled by some of the great church architects of the time, Arthur Blomfield, J. J. Stevenson, and Ninian Comper. By 1927 the chancel had an elaborate dark oak reredos, marble floors and over the altar, a large pillared canopy, known as a baldacchino.
In 1877, Octavia Hill, later one of the founders of the National Trust, led a campaign to clear London churchyards of their graves and open them as gardens for the urban poor. She is said to have been delighted by the results at St John’s and to have paid for the inscription of a line of poetry by George Herbert.
Octavia Hill told a lecture audience that St John’s churchyard was “more like a country garden … than any other I have seen. [The Vicar] has stumps prepared for ferns to grow on (and wants some, by-the-way, which some of you might send him); he has a nice bank, winding walks between the turf, knows which side of the church his wisteria will grow, spoke with hope of getting the large blue clematis to flower, wants numberless creepers to cover the church walls, and wreathe around and make more beautiful the few tombs which he leaves unmoved …”
At the height of the Blitz in December 1940, a firebomb fell through the roof, destroying the nave. The crypt was being used as a bomb shelter and proved its worth: 150 people were shocked but unharmed.
In 1951, the church was restored by architect Thomas Ford and reopened at the official church of the Festival of Britain on 26th April. It was a focus for the Festival, and has remained a place of encounter between the arts, society and faith ever since.
The crowning glory of the restored church are two murals by Hans Feibusch, commissioned by Ford to replace the east window, blown out by the firebomb. Feibusch was a German Jewish refugee and came to be responsible for more murals in Church of England churches than any other artist in its entire history – though he is only now beginning to attract the recognition he deserves.
What is Portland Stone?
Portland Stone (quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset) is a type of limestone which formed slowly over the last 150 million years or so (geological formation dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic) as tiny grains of sediment grew and compacted. It is very similar to Bath Stone, but has a subtly unique texture, grain and colour
Portland Stone is actually a family of closely related limestone variants, each owing their subtle unique qualities to the age of the stone. The three variants are:
- Basebed – the most pure of colour and grain (from the bottom layers of Portland Stone when quarried i.e. the oldest)
- Whitbed – slightly more textured and with a touch more variation in the colour
- Roach – the youngest Portland Stone (from the top layer) with the most colour variation and texture, often including impressions of shells and other marine life
While the different variants have these distinct qualities, they all share some common characteristics too: They are all off-white to light grey, notably uniform in colour but interspersed with small dark specks, or ‘grain’,
What is Limestone
Limestone is an organic, sedimentary rock. This means it was formed from the remains of tiny shells and micro-skeletons deposited on the sea bed. Over the years this sediment was compressed to form solid rock. Limestone is formed in layers – called bedding planes.
Fossils in Limestone
The fossils in Portland limestone may be of macroscopic or microscopic size. The main seen in Portland Limestone are macroscopic fossils which include crinoid stems, brachiopods, gastropods and other hard shelled mollusk remains. Please see the diagrams below:
above is a classic image of fossils in Portland Limestone
Portland Stone Quarries:
The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. The cutting of the stone is undertaken by hand.
Portland Stone and London
Historically, Portland stone has been the most widely used of the Jurassic limestones of Britain. It is arguably the principal building stone of London, at least since the post-medieval period, and became popular in the 17th century following the demise of timber as the predominant construction material, particularly after the Great Fire of 1666.
Many of the most significant public buildings in London have been constructed or faced in Portland stone, from churches to government buildings. A list of such buildings in the capital would encompass important streetscapes, notably in Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, and the City, as well as a number of national museums and galleries.
Cost of building with Portland Stone:
The cost of building a Facade / wall in Portland Stone can be up to 8 times more expensive than constructing in brick from a materials point of view. In addition Stone Masons command a higher salary than general brick laying builders.
So to the questions:
Please answer the following questions and either message or email me your answers. I am happy for you to log straight after you have sent your answers.
1. Look at the columns at the front of the church. Describle the colour and texture of the columns.
2. Do the columns contain fossils? If so please describe them and can you recognise any?
3. The columns are constructed out of many blocks of stone. Study the blocks of stone. How many blocks are there per collumn? Would you say that the blocks of stone have come from one larger bed of stone at the quarry or are the blocks unrelated? Please give me your reasoning.
4. Above the columns you will see more stone! What colour is this stone. Would you say it is also Portland stone? Do you think it is from the same rock bed as the columns? Please justify your answers.
5. What is the long church wall down the right side made of? Justify the use of materials in it's construction?
6. Finally please take a photo of yourself or something identifying you behind the columns against the church wall.
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If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please visit
http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at
http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html
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