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 A HISTORY The following arc details of a section at The Deeps : — ft in. 1. Upper Estuarine Beds : — a. Grey clay 3 ° b. White clay 5 o c. Variegated clay 80 d. Ferruginous band ° 9 16 9 2. Oolitic Beds Lincolnshire Limestone : — a. Coarse Red Oolite 26 b. Freestone, good Ketton stone. . 3 ^ c. Rag stone 5 ° " II o New Ketton quarries were opened in 1902," when there were six quarries in the whole county, five of which were actually at work, giving employment to seventy-three persons." Ketton stone, which maintains its reputation for goodness and durability, is chiefly utilized for stairs, plinths, mullions, and other dressings, and has been used in the construction of the follow- ing buildings : — St. Dunstan's, Fleet Street ; St. Pancras Railway Station, and the modern part of Peterborough and Ely Cathedrals; also for Sandringham House.'* Both the Ketton and Casterton Freestone Beds are analogous to those of Bath and the West of England." Other important quarries which have furnished a large amount of exxellent stone during the last decade are those of Mr. Henry Wing at Edith Weston. The same valuable qualities which characterized the ' Old Ketton ' are claimed for Edith Weston stone. It is easily worked in the quarry, but becomes very hard and durable after a short exposure to the weather. Its oolitic grain is fine and distinct, so that a sharp 'arris' can be obtained by the sculptor; it is thus adapted for monumental as well as building work. Edith Weston stone has been largel}' employed in many OF RUTLAND buildings both in the Midlands and elsewhere, as for example in the London City and Midland Banks at Peterborough and Nuneaton, the Grand Hotel, Southwold, the new Cemetery Chapel and Buildings at Leicester, the private Chapel at Warter Prior)', the Prince Christian Victor Memorial at Windsor, and many other works.'* In 1905, according to the report of the inspector appointed in the Midland district under the various Acts regulating mines and quarries, 6,315 tons of limestone, sandstone, and other material were obtained from the quarries of Rut- land, while 69 men were employed inside the quarries, and 91 in dealing with the stone outside. An interesting feature of the stone trade of Rutland is the frequent presence of traces of the ancient pits from which stone was formerly dug. At Wing, for instance, Professor Judd records such evidences at and about a place called ' Stone-pits Field Garden.' The stone he describes as ' very hard and white,' admirably fitted for road repairs, for which it was largely utilized. None of the pits had been opened for fifty years, and they were exhausted in 1875 of all good stone, and consequently abandoned. Similar pits have been found at Lyndon." Be- fore the inclosures these pits were sources of supply for the people of the surrounding dis- tricts, who procured the stone from their parish- pits, roughly tooled it, and built their own houses without plans or by-laws."" The lowest beds of the Northampton Sand were at one time dug at Bisbrooke for lining ovens, for which they are said to have been admirably adapted.^' A considerable trade was carried on in stone from the neighbourhood of Uppingham, which was made into troughs and carried into the adjoining counties.'' Morcott has been from time to time a centre of much quarrying activity, the Lincolnshire Oolite yield- ing at that point material for lime-burning, road- metal, and mortar."' WOOL AND TEXTILES We are not without glimpses from mediaeval to modern times of an ancient trade in wool and cloth in the county, though here, as in other parts of the kingdom bordering on more impor- tant centres of textile industry, manufacture was by no means proportionate to the quantity of " Sharp, ' Oolites of Northampton,' Proc. Geol. Soc. xxix, 239-42. " The Quarry, 1 902, p. 3 1. '' Ibid. 367. " Notes on BuiMng Comlruction, pt. iii, 69. " Rep. Brit. J hoc. 1847, p. 131. '* We are indebted to Mr. H. Wing of St. Peter's Street, St.imford, for information respecting the Edith Weston Quarries. raw material available. Early records attest the activities of the wool trade, thefts of such mer- chandise being severely dealt with. It was recorded at the eyre of 1262 that very many fleeces had been stolen at 'Driestock'' (Stoke Dry) ; while in East Hundred Maud Scherewind stole the wool of seven sheep and fled for sanctuary to Tinwell Church. On venturing out, however, she was taken, arrested, and carried into the Abbot of Peterborough's Court at Tinwell, and byjudge- " Judd, Geol. Rut. 178. " The Quarry, 1901, p. 758. " Judd, op. cit. 109. " Pigot, Dir. 1828, p. 667. " Judd, op. cit. 154. ' Assize R. 721, 47 Hen. Ill, m. 10. 236