HER 3998 - Chaldon Firestone Quarries: Chaldon Bottom Workings, Bedlams Bank Entrance Pits

The Bedlam Bank east pit and the Bedlam Bank west pit are two of the twelve entrance pits to the Chaldon firestone quarries, of which five have survived untouched or only partially filled. These medieval pillar and stall stone quarries have 16 km of underground galleries. It is thought that these are the stone pits listed in the Domesday Book under the mannor of Limpsfield. The quarry workings 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 they were abandoned by reworking or secondary uses. These underground quarries were the source of much of the “Reigate Stone”, used for building in medieval London, as an alternative to Caen stone from Normandy. The workings are draft mines, working down dip, up 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 1263, 3981, 3999, 4000, 4001, for Chaldon Bottom Workings, entrance pits.

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Related Records

• SHHER_1263
• SHHER_3981
• SHHER_4000

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