{{Short description|Limestone from Oxford, UK}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Radcliffe Camera (2005).jpg|thumb|upright|The lower part of Oxford's Radcliffe Camera library is faced in Headington stone.]]
'''Headington stone''' is a limestone from the Headington Quarry area of Oxford, England.<ref>{{cite news |first=Clive |last=Aslet |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3357227/The-stone-that-built-a-country.html |title=The stone that built a country |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=20 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726155006/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3357227/The-stone-that-built-a-country.html |archive-date=26 July 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| editor-first=Mary D. | editor-last=Lobel | url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=101887 | chapter=Parishes: Headington | title=A History of the County of Oxford | volume=5: Bullingdon hundred | date=1957 | pages=157–168 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author-link=William Joscelyn Arkell | first=W.J. | last=Arkell] | url=https://openlibrary.org/b/OL16491967M/Oxford-stone | title=Oxford Stone | publisher=Faber & Faber | date=1947 }}</ref>
==Geology== Around 160 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic period, Britain was located further south and was submerged beneath a subtropical sea. The warm conditions meant that coral reefs could flourish. When the coral died, it was buried under successive layers of sediment and other debris. After millions of years, this became fossilized. It formed the Corallian Limestone that is now beneath the Headington Quarry area of Oxford.
==Quarrying== Historically, there were a number of stone quarries in Headington Quarry. Headington stone was traditionally used for a number of the older Oxford University college buildings. In 1396, stone from quarrying in Headington was used to build the bell-tower for New College. It was also used for Oxford's city walls. Headington stone was used in the 1520s by Cardinal Wolsey to build his Cardinal College, now known as Christ Church.
Headington stone was particularly good for building since it can be cut in any direction and thus carved relatively easily. The stone was employed in buildings outside Oxford such as for Eton College and Windsor Castle. Later stone extracted from the quarry was of less good quality, for example, that used to build the lower part of the Radcliffe Camera. The stone was prone to erosion by pollution.<ref>{{cite web| first=Heather | last=Viles | url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/geomaterials/epsrc/results/Crumbling%20facades.pdf | title=Crumbling facades: Past, present and future threats to Oxford's stonework | publisher=University of Oxford | location=UK | accessdate=30 July 2022 }}</ref>
==Literature== The use of Headington stone in Oxford University buildings was mentioned by John Betjeman (1906–1984) in his poetry:<ref>{{cite book| first=Frank | last=Delaney | author-link=Frank Delaney | title=Betjeman Country | series=Paladin Books | publisher=Granada Publishing | date=1985 | chapter=Oxford | page=72 | isbn=978-0-586-08499-1 }}</ref>
{{blockquote| Friend of my youth, you are dead!<br /> and the long peal pours from the steeple<br /> Over this sunlit quad<br /> in our University city<br /> And soaks in Headington stone }}
==See also== * List of types of limestone
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Limestone Category:Building stone Category:History of Oxford Category:History of the University of Oxford Category:Geologic formations of the United Kingdom Category:Geology of Oxfordshire Category:Jurassic England
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