- Kentish Ragstone is a hard limestone found along the Greensand Ridge in Sussex and Kent.
- It was quarried by the Romans near Maidstone and used in buildings and walls as the only hard rock available in southeastern Britannia.
Geology
- Kentish Ragstone is a hard limestone found in a Geological formation known as the Hythe beds of lower Greensand. The Limestone reaches the surface at various points along the Greensand Ridge which runs from Sussex along the top of the Weald of Kent into Hythe, where it can be seen in the cliffs.
- As Kentish Ragstone is the only hard rock available in Southeastern Britain, it has been quarried throughout the last two millennia for use in building walls for buildings. It was cut into square blocks and used in Roman and Medieval walls.
Quarries
- It is thought that the Romans mainly quarried the stone at Tovil, a suburb of Maidstone, on a tributary of the Medway. The stone was then transported up the Medway and into the Thames. In the nineteenth century there were many quarries in the Maidstone area, some still in use until the 1970’s.
Transport
- Discovery of the Blackfriars Roman Shipwreck in London, known as Blackfriars I, the wreck contained a whole cargo of Kentish Ragstone. This showed that ocean going ships were transporting the quarried stones from Maidstone, up the Medway and the Thames into London, where the stones were probably transferred to barges and transported further inland.
Medieval Buildings
- Kentish Ragstone was used to build the Archbishops Palace and All Saints Church at Maidstone, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Rochester Castle, Leeds Castle, Dover Castle Keep, and Knole House.
- Also, in 1419, King Henry V ordered the Maidstone quarries to make 7,000 cannonballs.
Tovil, Maidstone, Kent: