Ashton Memorial
Ashton Memorial has often been described as England's Grandest Folly as well as the 'Taj Mahal' of the North. Standing at 150ft tall it dominates the skyline of Lancaster and can be seen for miles around. It also offers great views of Morecambe Bay on a clear day and is a popular feature of Williamson's Park. It is a folly built between 1907 and 1909 by millionaire Baron Ashton in memory of his second wife Jessy. The memorial was designed by John Belcher and cost £80,000 (equivalent to over £7million in 2015). Today the memorial serves as a venue and exhibition space.
The building itself it made from Portland Stone, a popular material used in UK architecture. The dome is made from copper whilst the stone steps are made from hard-wearing granite from Cornwall.
Portland Stone
Portland Stone is a limestone quarried from the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It has been used extensively as a building material in the British Isles and has also been exported for use in other countries.
The stone is formed in a marine environment, on the floor of a shallow and warm sea near land. As seawater was warmed by the sun, it's capacity to hold dissolved gas is reduced, consequently carbon dioxide is released as a gas into the atmophere. This allows calcium carbonate to form as a precipitate (similar to the build up of lime scale in a kettle in hard water areas). Billions of calcium carbonate crystals (Calcite) accumulated on the seabed floor forming lime mud (Micrite). Sand and other particles become covered in Calcite and Micrite as they move along the sea bed allowing the particles to grow in size due to a 'snowball effect'. Over time these 'balls' known as 'Ooids' partially cement together creating larger Oolitic Limestone which we know as Portland Stone.
Questions
1.) Why is Portland Stone a good material for buildings such as the Ashton Memorial? Give two reasons.
2.) Describe the texture of the Portland Stone. Do you think the grains are small or large? Explain why you think this is. How does the texture compare to the granite steps?
3.) In order to prove you visited, whilst standing at the top of the steps, take a reading on your gps to see how far above sea level you are in metres alternatively if you are unable to do this please count how many steps there are from the bottom up to the landing which allows you to walk around the memorial.
4.) Name another famous building/monument in Britian which is made from Portland Stone, (hint: there is another in Lancaster)
5.) The dome on the top of Ashton Memorial is made of copper, but it not the colour you would expect copper to be. Explain why this is.
Additionally if you would like to post any photos of the memorial, we would appreciate this.
**THIS CACHE HAS BEEN PLACED WITH KIND PERMISSION FROM LANCASTER CITY COUNCIL**