Understanding Building Stones and Stone Buildings

Table of Contents
1 Introduction 
1.1 Purpose and content of the book

2 The geological origin of building stones 
2.1 Introduction 
2.2 Classifiation of minerals 
2.3 Classification of rocks 
2.4 The structure of the Earth and plate tectonics 
2.5 Rock fractures 
2.6 Geological time 
2.7 The distribution of rock in the British Isles and its significance for building stones 
2.8 The National Stone Centre and the BGS Geological Walk 
2.9 Examples of stone buildings and their geological location in Britain

3 Recognising the different types of building stone 
3.1 Introduction 
3.2 Granites 
3.3 Volcanic stones 
3.4 Limestones 
3.5 Sandstones 
3.6 Flint 
3.7 Metamorphic building stones 
3.8 Breccias and conglomerates 
3.9 Artificial stones: terracotta, faience, bricks, concrete, Coade stone, gabions

4 The life of a building stone: quarrying and emplacement through to deterioration 
4.1 Introduction 
4.2 Quarries and their distribution in Britain 
4.3 Quarrying methods, rock fractures, Portland stone and the Carrara marble quarry complex 
4.4 Building stone exposure, deterioration, ‘back to the Earth’

5 Stone buildings—pillars, lighthouses, walls, arches, bridges, buttresses, roof vaults, castles, cathedrals and lettering 
5.1 Introduction 
5.2 Pillars, lighthouses and walls 
5.3 Arches, buttresses, bridges and roof vaults 
5.4 Castles and cathedrals 
5.5 Lettering in stone

6 The architecture of stone buildings 
6.1 Introduction 
6.2 An historical note on the early use of building stone in England 
6.3 The Saxon architectural style 
6.4 The Norman architectural style 
6.5 The Early English architectural style 
6.6 The Decorated architectural style 
6.7 The Perpendicular architectural style 
6.8 Subsequent architectural styles following the Perpendicular style 
6.9 The inevitable development of the architectural styles from the earliest times to the Gothic 
6.10 A note on modern architecture 
6.11 Post-modern architecture explained: the case of the bundled pilasters 
6.12 Two exceptional architects: Marcus Vitruvius Pollio and Sir Christopher Wren 
6.13 Books containing explanations and glossaries of architectural terms

7 Two exemplary stone structures: the Albert Memorial and Durham Cathedral 
7.1 Introduction 
7.2 The Albert Memorial 
7.3 Durham Cathedral

8 Deterioration of building stones and stone buildings 
8.1 Introduction 
8.2 The mechanisms of deterioration 
8.3 The Second Law of Thermodynamics, entropy and the inevitability of ruins 
8.4 Digital recording of stone buildings and the possibility of their rebirth 
8.5 A note on the deterioration of religious buildings 
8.6 A case history of studies of the Carrara marble bowing phenomenon

9 Concluding comments