About Our Stone

Our Clipsham Quarry stone is rich in history and heritage. You’ll want to know all you can about the luxury product you’re choosing for your home or building project, so here’s the key information, including geological background, chemical composition, physical tests and a petrographic description of our stone.

Geological Background and Petrographic Description

We’re proud to say Clipsham Stone is a member of the Lincolnshire Limestone deposits. These deposits occur in the Inferior Oolite of the Jurassic system. The texture of the stone is subject to some variation, as it’s likely this limestone was deposited in a moderately sub-tropical sea, where changes were frequent.

When dry, the colour of Clipsham stone varies between a soft, pale cream and a rich buff. The ground colour of the stone from the Old Quarry is buff, with small patches of light brown. It is coarse-grained and somewhat oolitic and among the clastic are very small pebbles and many shell fragments.

Chemical Composition

Throughout the mass of stone are large numbers of plates of calcite, which provide an enchanting, glistening finish. Under an ordinary hand lens, the matrix has a natural, earthy appearance. However, when examined by the microscope, it is found to be crystalline. The ooliths vary in shape and they also contain shell fragments, along with portions of encrinites and echinoderms. Scattered throughout the stone are glistening crystals of calcite, with the clastic bound together by a matrix of the same material. On a faced surface, many fragmentary particles appear somewhat grey and opaque.

Glossary of terms

If you need some help decoding the stone jargon, feel free to refer to our glossary of terms below.

Calcite – White or colourless mineral consisting of calcium carbonate

Clastic – Rocks composed of broken pieces of older rocks

Echinoderms – Marine invertebrates

Encrinites – Sedimentary rock formed almost entirely from the skeletal plates of crinoids

Jurassic (approximately 208-146 million years ago)

Oolite – Limestone consisting of a mass of rounded grains (ooliths) made up of concentric layers

Physical Tests

 Please find below the summary of physical test results from the Building Research Establishment.

*When tested in August 2012 by Sandberg Consulting Engineers, values reported as:

Mean open porosity 15.23%

Mean apparent density 2274

Mean Flexural strength 5.00 MPa

We hope this has given you some helpful insight into our gorgeous Clipsham Quarry stone. If you have any further questions, feel free to get in touch via our Contact page or call us on 01572 811 493. We would love to hear from you.

Contact Us

Are you ready to take the first step to transform your home?

We’re always happy to hear from potential customers, whether you’re ready to make your purchase or you’d just like to ask us something – no question is to too small!

We’re here to answers any questions you may have, as quickly as we can. We vow to provide you with excellent customer service from the very beginning of your journey, right through to the moment you take a step back to admire your home.

We work with homeowners, builders, architects, landscapers, builders merchants and stonemasons.

To find out more about how you can turn your home into a castle, contact us today using the form above, or call 07808 363 658

We can’t wait to hear from you.