Occasional Magazine N.S. Vol.1 No.2 (August 1982)
Milford Church – The Norman Arches and Tower Arch by Marjorie E. J. Chandler. It was always thought that Binstead stone, quarried in the Isle of Wight in the Middle Ages and of admirable reputation, had been used inside Milford Church in the Norman arches, the Tower arch and elsewhere. But this presented a difficulty since the internal stonework gave endless trouble from flaking, dust and loss of surface. Expert investigations produced various theories on what caused the stone to be perishable but remedial measures proved unsuccessful. Eventually deterioration of the Tower arch was so bad that stones were taken down and replaced by a Northampton stone]. The heaps of broken stone lay for weeks in the road outside Milford House and the author picked them over looking for fossils. She realised then that the old stone was not Binstead at all, but Howe Ledge Limestone. The clue lay in observing that real shells of freshwater snails were preserved, whereas Binstead exhibits hollow casts or shells replaced by calcite. Howe Ledge Limestone was not a building stone, but if used would be saturated with sea water and liable to flake and crumble on drying out. It occurs on the shore at Colwell Bay in the Isle of Wight and this gives a shorter convenient passage to Lymington than Bembridge Binstead stone. At this remove it is impossible to know whether it was the Church authorities or the quarry owners who were at fault in using Howe Ledge Limestone in the first place.
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