The occurrence of travertine in churches of the London Basin

The London Basin's gravel churches: indications of geology, medieval history and geographical distribution

“…Bridgland (1994, p Figure 2 portrays the distribution within the London Basin of those ecclesiastical buildings which contain ferruginous sand, sandy-gravel or gravel. As with the instances of other early utilised church building materials (Potter 1998;2000a;2000b;2001b), these 'ferricretes' are only poorly represented in the churches close to, or within, the London urban area. This reflects the repeated and extensive rebuilding in the urban area prompted by population growth and demands.…”

“…It is noticeable, however, that the use of Roman brick, in the studies of the Royal Commission, intimated to the Commission, almost without exception, a Norman (twelfthcentury) building period. The case for AngloSaxon reuse of this material is somewhat more powerful, for it requires a shorter time span between dates of reuse and first Roman manufacture (Potter 2000a).…”

“…In the London Basin, typical local materials included the ferruginous gravel/sand as well as other material such as flints, derived Bunter boulders, London Clay calcareous concretions, silcretes, etc. (Potter 1998;2000a;2000b;2001a).…”

“…(iii) Reused Roman brick and tile and, when it was available, blocks of Roman travertine (Potter 2000a), were also frequently incorporated into Anglo-Saxon church fabrics. Although this building custom was also employed by Norman and later builders, the time lag between Roman first-use and later reuse would have been shortest for Anglo-Saxon requirements.…”

“…In approaching half of these instances, the Roman material is utilised to construct quoins, thus simplifying the task of building the quoins from rubble. Reused travertine blocks, although much less abundant but again of Roman origin (Potter 2000a), are found in 16 per cent of the ferruginous gravel/sand churches.…”