Conservation of Reigate Stone at Hampton Court Palace and HM Tower of London

Abstract

This paper describes a research project on Reigate stone, undertaken by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) over the last four years.1 Reigate Stone was used extensively at the royal palaces from the medieval period, and is infamously nondurable. Reigate Stone was replaced with more durable stones, such as Bath Stone, in the nineteenth century, but more recently there have been efforts at conservation. To date, the HRP project has concentrated on gaming a more complete understanding of the nature of the stone, which is unique in the British Isles. The project has involved re-entering the abandoned underground quarries in East Surrey to take core samples, which have been analysed by various techniques. Results were incomplete at the time of writing (June 2001), but much useful new information about the stone has been gained. Comparative treatment trials have gone ahead in recent months, in collaboration with US-based researchers. Further discussions with academics and practitioners are planned.