DORSET BUILDING STONE
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Lulworth Castle (lead authors: GR and GT)

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Lulworth Castle. Photo: GR
The much remodelled interior has Portland Freestone, Purbeck Limestone, Chalk, dark Heathstone, as well as brickwork.​​
All the images below are GR and show the castle's interior.

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Text and images by GR: March 2017

Lulworth Castle – Building Stones and Sources

 Lulworth Castle was built as a hunting lodge circa 1608. It was remodelled 1609-11 and remodelled again in 1641. There is Portland Freestone ashlar stone to the main front, with the remainder of Purbeck Limestone rubble stone with some Heathstone. The building is effectively just a shell having been gutted by fire in 1929, but it does make the interior stonework very visible. The central block is brick. It has a square plan, with circular comer towers, in pseudo-military style. There are three storeys and a basement -with the towers four-storeyed. The main east front has a raised terrace with stone steps and a balustrade. It has a round-headed doorway, flanked by a twin portico with Ionic columns and entablatures. There are small circular windows on each side. There is a circular traceried window over the door.
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The informal “Dorset Building Stones group” visited Lulworth Castle on Monday 24th July 2017, escorted by David Greenhalf of Lulworth Estates.  He sought the group’s views on:-
    1) The columns at the front (1660-69)
    2) The ashlar (front)
    3) The rubble walls (sides/rear)
 This summarises the opinions of the visitors (additional photos are attached)
The columns at the front (and one in the basement) are Upper Jurassic Portland Limestone from the Isle of Portland, based on fossil content (red alga Solenopora fragments) and bed thickness.  The columns are understood to date from 1660-69.  Stone was exported from the Isle of Portland for the Queen’s House at Greenwich 1616-40 and the detailing of the Whitehall Banqueting House 1619-22, so the 1660-69 date is compatible with this source.  The steps are also Portland Stone with large fossil bivalves. 
The ashlar on the east front is a mixture of bioclastic, oolitic and micritic Portland Limestones and a wide range of Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Limestones: Lower Purbeck algal Caps and laminated Cypris Freestone; Middle Purbeck Downs Vein and Pond Freestone; Upper Purbeck Burr (aka Broken Shell Limestone, BSL) and micritic beds from the Upper Cypris Clays and Shales.  The source is not proven but it is speculated to have been the coastal Portland-Purbeck outcrop of the Lulworth Cove to Warbarrow Tout area, landed by boat at Arish Mell.  The later remedial ashlar is from the Isle of Portland. 
The rubble walls comprise the same wide range of building stone as the ashlar, with the addition of some Eocene Heathstone (ferruginous sandstone, as in the Church tower plinth), Upper Cretaceous Flint & possible recycled masonry, all of which could be sourced locally.  Internally, there is Upper Cretaceous Chalk and some large flint.  The bedrock of Lulworth Castle is Eocene ferruginous sandstones but Chalk with a superficial cover of “clay with flints” outcrops within the estate.
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Observations by:
Treleven Haysom D.Tech – Stone mason, quarry owner, conservation advisor
Paul Ensom – Purbeck Stone geologist (e.g. Purbeck Beds of Bacon Hole 2010)
Dr Geoff Townson C.Geol.FGS – Portland Stone geologist (DPhil Portland Beds 1971)
Pat Snelgrove – Author of Virtual Field Trips to Isle of Purbeck (CD)
Sheila Alderman – Member Open Univ Geol Soc & Dorset Geol Assoc Group
Jo Thomas – Author of Dorset Stone (2008)
Peter Bath – Building stone petrographer & microscopist
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WGT July 2017
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© DORSET BUILDING STONE
and contributors
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Glossary
    • References and Sources
    • Work in Progress
  • Building stones
    • How we study building stones
    • Palaeogene >
      • Heathstone
      • Sarsens
    • Cretaceous >
      • Chalk
      • Flint
      • Upper Greensand
      • Chert
      • Wealden
      • Purbeck >
        • Upper Purbeck (Purbeck Marble)
        • Upper Purbeck (Broken Shell Lst. aka Burr)
        • Middle Purbeck (Upper Building Stones)
        • Lower Purbeck (Cypris Freestones)
    • Jurassic >
      • Lower Purbeck >
        • Cypris Freestones
      • Portland Stone - Dorset
      • Chert
      • Kimmeridge Bay Dolomitic Limestone
      • Corallian
      • Cornbrash
      • Forest Marble
      • Fuller's Earth Rock
      • Inferior Oolite
      • Bridport Sands
      • Junction Bed
      • Blue Lias
    • Dorset Bricks
    • Non-Dorset Stone >
      • Tertiary >
        • Bembridge Limestones - Isle Of Wight
      • Cretaceous >
        • Beer Stone - SE Devon
      • Jurassic >
        • Bath Stone - Somerset & Wilts
        • Blue Lias of Somerset
        • Doulting Stone - Somerset
        • Ham Hill Stone - Somerset
        • Portland Limestone – Wilts (Chilmark)
        • Normandy >
          • Pierre de Caen (Caen Stone)
        • Pas de Calais
      • Triassic: White Lias of SE Devon
      • Carboniferous >
        • Carboniferous Limestones: Polished Black
      • Devonian
    • Building Stone Trails >
      • Devon Trails
      • Somerset Trails
    • Stone Index >
      • Stone Index A-B >
        • Abbotsbury Ironstone
        • Bath Stone
        • Beer Stone
        • Bembridge Stone
        • Binstead Stone
        • Blue Lias Stone
        • Bridport Sandstone
        • Broken Shell Limestone
        • Burr
        • Burton Limestone
      • Stone Index C-E >
        • Caen Stone
        • Carstone
        • Chert
        • Chilmark Lower Building Stone
        • Chilmark Main Building Stone
        • Chilmark Stone
        • Chilmark Upper Buiding Stone
        • Clavellata Beds
        • Cliff Stone
        • Clunch
        • Corallian
        • Cornbrash
        • Cypris Freestone
      • Stone Index F-O >
        • Featherbed Limestone
        • Featherstone
        • Forest Marble
        • Flint
        • Fuller's Earth Rock
        • Grey Chalk
        • Ham Hill Stone
        • Heathstone
        • Inferior Oolite
        • Ironstone
        • Lower Chalk
        • Lower Lias
        • Melbury Sandstone
        • Middle Chalk
        • Middle Lias
        • New Vein
        • Osmington Oolite
      • Stone Index P-T >
        • Portland Cherty Beds
        • Portland Cherty Series
        • Portland Stone
        • Purbeck Marble
        • Purbeck Stone
        • Quarr Stone
        • Rag
        • Sarsen Stone
        • Shaftesbury Sandstone
        • Sherborne Stone
        • Tisbury Stone
        • Todber Freestone
        • Trigonia Beds
      • Stone Index U-Z >
        • Upper Chalk
        • Wardour Lower Building Stone
        • Wardour Main Building Stone
        • Weald Clay
        • White Chalk
        • White Lias
        • Yeovil Stone
  • Churches
    • A-Z of Churches
    • East Dorset >
      • Almer
      • Bournemouth >
        • Talbot Village
      • Canford Magna Chapel
      • Corfe Mullen
      • Christchurch Priory
      • Cranborne
      • Edmondsham
      • Gussage All Saints
      • Gussage St. Andrew
      • Hampreston
      • Kinson
      • Knowlton
      • Morden
      • Pamphill
      • Poole St.James
      • Poole, the Spire Church
      • Shapwick
      • Sturminster Marshall
      • Tarrant Crawford
      • Tarrant Keyneston
      • West Parley
      • Wimborne St.Giles
      • Wimborne Minster Exterior Tour
      • Wimborne Minster Interior
      • Wimborne Minster: Purbeck Marble and Decorative Stone
    • Central Dorset >
      • Bloxworth
      • Bradford Peverell
      • Cerne Abbas
      • Hilton
      • Lytchett Matravers
      • Stratton
      • The Piddle Valley >
        • Affpuddle
        • Alton Pancras
        • Bere Regis
        • Piddlehinton
        • Piddletrenthide
        • Puddletown
        • Tolpuddle
      • Winterborne Tomson
    • North Dorset >
      • Batcombe
      • Belchalwell
      • Blandford Parish Church
      • Blandford St. Leonard's Chapel
      • Blandford St. Mary
      • Blandford Cemetery Chapels
      • Bradford Abbas
      • Chetnole
      • Child Okeford
      • Compton Abbas
      • Farnham
      • Folke
      • Gillingham
      • Hammoon
      • Hazelbury Bryan
      • Holnest
      • Ibberton
      • Iwerne Minster
      • Langton Long
      • Leigh
      • Mappowder
      • Margaret Marsh
      • Marnhull
      • Melbury Abbas
      • Melbury Bubb
      • Pimperne
      • Okeford Fitzpaine
      • Purse Caundle
      • Ryme Intrinseca
      • Shillingstone
      • Sixpenny Handley
      • Stockwood
      • Stourpaine
      • Tarrant Gunville
      • Tarrant Hinton
      • Tarrant Monkton
      • Tarrant Rushton
      • Todber
      • Winterborne Stickland
      • Winterborne Zelston
      • Woolland
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      • Portland: Reforne
      • Steeple
      • Stinsford
      • Studland
      • Swanage
      • Upwey
      • Wareham St. Martin-on-the Walls
      • Wareham St.Mary >
        • St. Martin's-on-the-walls
      • Winterborne Came
      • Winterborne Steepleton
      • Wool
      • Worth Matravers
    • West Dorset >
      • Beaminster
      • Bothenhampton
      • Bradpole
      • Bridport
      • Broadwindsor
      • Burton Bradstock
      • Burstock
      • Catherston Leweston
      • Chelborough
      • Evershot
      • Eype
      • Loders
      • Monkton Wyld
      • Netherbury
      • North Poorton
      • Powerstock
      • St. Gabriel’s
      • Shipton Gorge
      • Lulworth Castle
      • Stoke Abbott
      • Symondsbury
      • Wootton Fitzpaine
      • Whitchurch Canonicorum
  • Quarries , Pits and Limekilns
    • Active Quarries
    • Abbotsbury area
    • Beacon Limestone Quarries
    • Inferior Oolite
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    • Kimmeridge Bay
    • Portesham
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    • Purbeck near Swanage
    • Shaftesbury Sandstone
    • Uplyme Quarries
    • Upwey
    • Whiteway Hill Quarry
    • Winspit Quarry
    • Non-Dorset Quarries and Pits
  • Secular buildings
    • Athelhampton House
    • Blandford Town Hall
    • Cerne Abbas (village and Abbey)
    • Durweston Bridge
    • Ibberton Village
    • Kimmeridge Bay
    • Moignes Court
    • Non-Dorset Buildings
  • Search
  • Contact Us