Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T18:15:27.229Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Petit Appareil Masonry Style in Roman Britain: Geology, Builders, Scale and Proportion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2010

J.R.L. Allen
J.R.L. Allen
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, j.r.l.allen@reading.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Masonry facing at 31 widely scattered sites was characterised by the comparative lithometric analysis of the linear dimensions, apparent areas and apparent proportions of random samples of 50 exposed building blocks. Typically, block length lies between three-quarters and one Roman foot and height from one-third to one-half of a foot. The mean proportions of blocks vary with the type of stone and range from 1.50 to 2.54, with ‘military’ builders tending to prefer low length:height ratios and stone that fractured in much the same way regardless of direction relative to the bedding (i.e. isotropic, near-isotropic). The evidence suggests that the choice of general-purpose stone and proportions by ‘military’ and ‘non-military’ builders varied over time with changing circumstances. Both kinds of builder seem to have been least selective in the late first and early second centuries a.d. and again in the late third and early fourth centuries.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 41 , November 2010 , pp. 149 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2010. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adam, J.-P. 1994: Roman Building: Materials and Techniques, LondonGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 2003: ‘The building stone at the Roman religious complex at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire: character and fate’, Archaeological Journal 160, 229–33Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 2004: Carrstone in Norfolk Buildings: Distribution, Uses, Associates and Influences, BAR British Series 371, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 2007: Late Churches and Chapels in Berkshire. A Geological Perspective from the Late Eighteenth Century to the First World War, BAR British Series 432, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L., and Fulford, M.G. 1999: ‘Fort building and military supply along Britain’s eastern Channel and North Sea coasts: the late second and third centuries’, Britannia 30, 163–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L., Pearson, A.F., and Fulford, M.G. 2001: ‘Branodunum on the North Norfolk coast: a local origin for the building material’, Britannia 32, 271–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L., Rose, E.J., and Fulford, M.G. 2003: ‘Reuse of Roman stone in the Reedham area of east Norfolk: intimations of a possible “lost” Roman fort’, Britannia 34, 129–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bai, T., and Pollard, D.D. 2000: ‘Fracture spacing in layered rocks: a new explanation based on the stress transition’, Journal of Structural Geology 22, 43–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrow, G., Gibson, W., Cantrill, T.C., Dixon, E.E.L., and Cunnington, C.H. 1919: The Geology of the Country around Lichfield, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Bidwell, P. 1996: ‘The exterior decoration of Roman buildings in Britain’, in Johnson, P. and Haynes, I. (eds), Architecture in Roman Britain, CBA Research Report 94, York, 19–29Google Scholar
Bristow, H.W. 1889: The Geology of the Isle of Wight, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
British Geological Survey Sheet 109 (Chester)Google Scholar
British Geological Survey Sheet 234 (Gloucester)Google Scholar
Buckland, P.C. 1988: ‘The stones of York: building materials of Roman Yorkshire’, in Price, J. and Wilson, P.R. (eds), Recent Research in Roman Yorkshire, BAR British Series 193, Oxford, 237–88Google Scholar
Burnham, B.C., and Wacher, J. 1990: The Small Towns of Roman Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Casey, P.J., and Bennett, J. 1983: ‘Caerwent (Venta Silurum): the excavation of the north-west corner tower and an analysis of the structural sequence of the defences’, Archaeologia Cambrensis 132, 49–77Google Scholar
Casey, P.J., and Hoffmann, B. 1999: ‘Excavations at the Roman temple in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, in 1980 and 1981’, Antiquaries Journal 79, 81–143CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crow, J. 1995: The English Heritage Book of Housesteads, LondonGoogle Scholar
Cunliffe, B.W. 1976: ‘The Roman baths at Bath: the excavations, 1969–75’, Britannia 7, 1–32CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De la Bédoyère, G. 1991: The Buildings of Roman Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Edwards, R.A., and Scriviner, R.C. 1999: Geology of the Country around Exeter, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Edwards, W., Mitchell, G.H., and Whitehead, T.H. 1950: Geology of the District North and East of Leeds, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Frost, D.V., and Holliday, D.W. 1980: Geology of the Country around Bellingham, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Fulford, M.G., and Tyers, I. 1995: ‘The date of Pevensey and the defence of an “Imperium Britanniorum”’, Antiquity 69, 1009–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallois, R.W. 1994: Geology of the Country around King’s Lynn and The Wash, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Goodburn, R. 1976: The Roman Villa: Chedworth, LondonGoogle Scholar
Green, G.W., and Donovan, D.T. 1969: ‘The Great Oolite of the Bath area’, Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain 30, 1–63Google Scholar
Harrison, A.C., and Flight, C. 1969: ‘The Roman and medieval defences at Rochester in the light of recent excavations’, Archaeologia Cantiana 83, 55–104Google Scholar
Hill, P.R. 2004: The Construction of Hadrian’s Wall, BAR British Series 375, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinchliffe, J., and Green, C.J.S. 1985: Excavations at Brancaster in 1974 and 1977, East Anglian Archaeological Report 23, DerehamGoogle Scholar
Holbrook, N. 1998: Cirencester: the Roman Town Defences, Public Buildings and Shops, CirencesterGoogle Scholar
Holbrook, N., and Bidwell, P.T. 1991: Roman Finds from Exeter, Exeter Archaeological Report 4, ExeterGoogle Scholar
Howe, E., and Lakin, D. 2004: Roman and Medieval Cripplegate, City of London: Archaeological Excavations, 1992–8, LondonGoogle Scholar
Ji, S., Zhu, Z., and Wang, Z. 1998: ‘Relationship between joint spacing and bed thickness in sedimentary rocks: effects of interbed slip’, Geological Magazine 135, 637–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, S. 1976: The Roman Forts of the Saxon Shore, LondonGoogle Scholar
Kellaway, G.A., and Welch, F.B.A. 1993: Geology of the Bristol District, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Kenyon, K. 1948: Excavations at the Jewry Wall Site, Leicester, Research Report Society of Antiquaries of London 15, LondonCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, J.K. 2003: Caerleon Roman Fortress (3rd edn), CardiffGoogle Scholar
Lake, R.D., Young, C.J., and Mortimore, R.N. 1987: Geology of the Country around Lewes, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Leach, P. 1998: Great Witcombe Roman Villa, Gloucestershire. Report on Excavations by Ernest Greenfield, 1960–1973, BAR British Series 266, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Lepper, F., and Frere, S. 1988: Trajan’s Column. A New Edition of the Cichorius Plates, StroudGoogle Scholar
Marsden, P.R.V. 1994: Ships of the Port of London: First to Eleventh Centuries AD, English Heritage Archaeology Report 3, LondonGoogle Scholar
Monaghan, J. 1997: Roman Pottery from York. The Pottery, The Archaeology of York 16, YorkGoogle Scholar
Moroney, M.J. 1953: Facts from Figures, HarmondsworthGoogle Scholar
Osborne White, H.J. 1921: A Short Account of the Geology of the Isle of Wight, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Pearson, A. 2003: The Construction of the Saxon Shore Forts, BAR British Series 349, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, A. 2006: The Work of Giants. Stone and Quarrying in Roman Britain, StroudGoogle Scholar
Pocock, R.W., Whitehead, T.H., Wedd, B.A., and Robertson, T. 1938: Shrewsbury District including the Hanwood Coalfield, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Pollard, D.D., and Aydin, A. 1988: ‘Progress in understanding joints over the past century’, Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 100, 1181–1204Google Scholar
Reid, C. 1898: The Geology of the Country around Eastbourne, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Richardson, L., Hanley, J.A., and Dines, H.G. 1933: The Country around Cirencester, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Rowland, I.D., Howe, T.N., and Dewar, M.J. 1999: Vitruvius: Ten Books on Architecture, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Rowsome, P. 1996: ‘The Billingsgate Roman house and baths’, London Archaeologist 7, 415–23Google Scholar
Scholfield, P.H. 1958: The Theory of Proportions in Architecture, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Shephard-Thorn, E.R. 1988: Geology of the Country around Ramsgate and Dover, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Squirrell, H.C., and Downing, R.A. 1969: Geology of the South Wales Coalfield. Part I. The Country Around Newport (Mon.) (3rd edn), Memoirs of the British Geological Survey, LondonGoogle Scholar
Trotter, F.M., and Hollingworth, S.E. 1932: The Geology of the Brampton District, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Wacher, J. 1995: The Towns of Roman Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Ward, J. 1901: ‘Cardiff Castle: its Roman origins’, Archaeologia 57(2), 335–52Google Scholar
Waters, R.A., and Lawrence, D.J.D. 1987: The Geology of the South Wales Coalfield. Part III. The Country around Cardiff (3rd edn), Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Welch, F.B.A., and Trotter, F.M. 1961: Geology of the Country around Monmouth and Chepstow, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Whipp, D. 1980: ‘Excavations at Tower Hill 1978’, Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society 31, 47–67Google Scholar
White, R., and Barker, P. 2002: Wroxeter: Life and Death of a Roman City, StroudGoogle Scholar
Williams, J.H. 1971a: ‘Roman building materials in the South-West’, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 90, 95–119Google Scholar
Williams, J.H. 1971b: ‘Roman building materials in South-East England’, Britannia 2, 166–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilmott, T. 1997: Birdoswald: Excavation of a Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall and its Successor Settlements: 1987–92, LondonGoogle Scholar
Wilmott, T. 2008: The Roman Amphitheatre in Britain, StroudGoogle Scholar
Worssam, B.C. 1963: Geology of the Country around Maidstone, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Worssam, B.C., and Old, R.A. 1988: Geology of the Country around Coalville, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Worssam, B.C., and Tatton-Brown, T. 1994: ‘Kentish rag and other Kent buildings stones’, Archaeologia Cantiana 112, 93–112Google Scholar