HER 1263 - Chaldon Firestone Quarries: Chaldon Bottom Workings

The Chaldon Bottom Workings are medieval pillar and stall stone quarries, which have 16km of accessible underground galleries. It is thought that these are the stone pits listed in the Domesday Book under the manor of Limpsfield. The quarries provided building material for local use, and for major civil engineering works in London and the Thames Valley including Westminster Palace and Abbey. The workings have not been damaged after abandonment by reworking or secondary uses. Of the original 12 entrance pits, 5 have survived untouched, or only partially filled. It is one of the best accessible sites in England. These underground quarries were the source of much of the `Reigate Stone' used for building in medieval London, as an a alternative to Caen stone from Normandy. The workings are drift mines, worked down dip, to the water table and then extended along the strick forming a network of pillars and stalls. It was not reworked for hearthstone and some of the older galleries are covered with calcite formations. See HER 3981,3998,3999,4000,4001 for Chaldon Bottom Workings Entrance pits.

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