The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-10-30 00:00:00

A PAPER READ AT THE INSTITUTE OF BRITISH

ARCHITECTS.
London, 30th March, 1840.
TALACRE STONE.
I have the pleasure to offer to your notice a Stone Quarry
in North Wales, whose produce is now importing into Lon-
don, two cargoes having already arrived ; and, unless I am
much mistaken, the introduction of this stone to
.the British
architects will prove a valuable boon. The quarries are.situ-
ated on the coast of Flintshire, within a mile of the Point of
Ayr, at the mouth of the estuary of the Dee, and adjoining
the grounds of Talacre Hall, the seat of Sir Edward Mostyn,
Bart.
The mineralogicalcharacter of this stone is that of silicious
sand stone, with an argillo-silicious cement. It is of great
density, a cubic foot weighing 154}lbs.,—is worked with
great ease, and, being remarkably free from hard untractable
veins and soft places, is capable of a very smooth surface, a
fine arris, and the most delicate carving. The closeness of
its texture and the fineness of its grain render it very desir-
able for external work in a large city, as it prevents the soot
from adhering to it, and thus clogging up the mouldings and
carvings, reducing them to an undistinguishable mass of
of blackness—a fault justly complained of in the Bath and
Portland stones.
For landings and steps, the Talacre Stone far excels the
very best kinds of Yorkshire stone, as it is superior in
strength, and not liable to scale in the unsightly manner that
so frequently destroys the appearance of the the finest pave-
ments of Yorkshire stone, as may be seen near the post-office
and in the Temple ; and as the Quarries are now in the pos-
session of a London Company (The Talacre Coal and Iron
Company), an abundant supply of large sized stone may be
expected.
Its colour i▪ s very uniform, and to my taste, has a beautiful
tone, which eminently fits it for interior finishings, especially
in the Gothic style.
Its durability may be seen in the shrine of St. Winifred's
well, at Holywell, in Flintshire' which was constructed of
this stone in the 15th century, and though exposed to the
humidity of the air, incident to the neighbourhood of moun-
tains and an arm of the sea, as well as to the clouds of sul-
phurous smoke from the numerous works on the stream
issuing from that celebrated spring, yet still preserves its rich
and delicate carvings in a very perfect state. Many other
ancient buildi▪
ngs in the neighbourhood have been constructed
or ornamented with this stone, as the ancient mansion in
the village of Llanasa, with its curious carved porch, erected
in 1642, the carvings and ashlar of which are still very per-
fect ; the quoins of Rhyddlan and Denbigh castles, built the
latter end of the 13th century; and among modern buildings,
Talacre Hall, the seat of fir Edward Mostyn, Bart. the
masonry of which is the admiration of all. I may mention
that the chimney pieces of this mansion, in the Gothic style,
are carved in this stone, and have a very beautiful effect.
The following is the result of an experiment made on the
comparative strength of the Talacre stone with the best
Yorkshire :
A .piece of Talacre stone, 2 feet 61
inches long, 31 inches wide, and
2 inches thick, bore for several
minutes a weight of
Best Yorkshire, of the same size,
broke immediately with a pressure
of .
I may add that from the proximity of the quarries to the
new harbour of port Talacre, this stone can be brought to
London at a price little, if at all, exceeding that of Yorkshire
stone. JOHN JENKINS.

4 cwt. 2 qrs. 1 lb.

TEST OF THE POROSITY OF TALACRE STONE,

AS COMPARED WITH BALSOVER MOOR.
Two pieces of stone, one of Balsover Moor and the other
of Talacre, eaeh weighing 1,000 grains, were put at the same
time into two different vessels of the same size, each contain-
ing equal quantities of water. After remaining in the water
for 48 hours they were taken out, and allowed to stand a few
minutes to enable the water on the surface to run off ; they
were then weighed with the following result :—The Balsover
was found to weigh 1053 grains, thus showing it to have ab-
sorbed 53 grains weight of water. The Talacre weighed 1031
grains, absorbing 31 grains of water. The obvious cause of
this great difference being the loose, and consequently porous
structure of the one stone over the other. This experiment
being repeated, it was found that the 1000 grains of Balsover
Moor absorbed 45 grains in four hours ; the 1000 grains of
Talacre absorbed 30 grains in the same time, and after the
expiration of two hours more, the stones were again weighed,
the Balsover had absorved 8 grains more water and the Ta-
lacre 1 grain. They were then returned to the water and al-
lowed to stand forty-eight hours, but without any additional
weight on the part of either.
When a stone is required to wear well, and is much ex-
posed to the weather, porosity is the worst defect it can pos-
sess. In the first place it allows vegetation to take place, by
giving room for the roots to fix themselves, and containing
so much water promotes, as well as supplies such vegetation,
to a most injurious degree. Secondly, its porosity is at-
tended with a more direct evil ; from its structure readily ad-
mitting water by absorption, in summer weather heavy
showers coming on, and immediately afterwards a bright and
hot sun makes its appearance shining with great power, the
porous stone absorbing a deal of water, the sun soon dries
and warms [the surface, which warmth is, in a very short
space of time, communicated to the inner part of the stone,
and causes the water to expand, being unable to make its
escape the stone scales, and flat thin pieces fall off. These
remarks also hold good in frosty weather, especially when
the frost comes on suddenly after much wet, the pressure on
the top and sides of the stone causes it to expand towards the
surface, which is also one of the causes of the stone scaling.
These and other remarks that could be adduced, render it
evident that for public buildings, stones of the closest texture
should be selected, being less subject to injury from the
weather, as above stated. The absorbing power of these
stones is nearly in the ratio of 3 to 5.
CHARLES WATT, Jun., Operative Chemist.
N.B.—The Balsover stone was selected and supposed to
Kingdom.
be superior to any other in the United

A Stock of the above COAL, FLAGS, &c., is now depo-
sited at the Yard, 68, WATEELoo-KoAn, where orders will be
carefully and punctually attended to.
The front of the Apothecaries' 1.T.1
--1, in Colquitt-stree
Liverpool, is built of the Talacro Stone.