"Drinking Fountain 1861: J Bell. Tapering granite obelisk with pointed head on granite plinth bearing quadrant basins. Inscribed 'In Remembrance of Samuel Gurney'. Four cast-iron lamp columns with later lanterns stand on four granite plinths at each corner. Founder of Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association."
This obelisk, in his remembrance, is located in Broadway, Stratford in east London.
(More information on the fountain further down. BUT first the earth lesson.)
What is Granite
Granite is a light-colored igneous rock with grains large enough to be visible with the unaided eye. It forms from the slow crystallization of magma below Earth’s surface. Granite is composed mainly of quartz and feldspar with minor amounts of mica, amphiboles and other minerals. This mineral composition usually gives granite a red, pink, gray or white color with dark mineral grains visible throughout the rock.
The large mineral crystals in granite are evidence that it cooled slowly from molten rock material. That slow cooling had to have occurred beneath Earth's surface and required a long period of time to occur. If they are today exposed at the surface the only way that could happen is if the granite rocks were uplifted and the overlying sedimentary rocks were eroded.
In areas where Earth's surface is covered with sedimentary rocks, granites, metamorphosed granites or closely related rocks are usually present beneath the sedimentary cover. These deep granites are known as "basement rocks".
Granite is the best-known igneous rock. Many people recognize granite because it is the most common igneous rock found at Earth's surface and because granite is used to make many objects that we encounter in daily life. These include counter tops, floor tiles, paving stone, curbing, stair treads, building veneer and cemetery monuments. Granite is used all around us - especially if you live in a city.
This video examines some of the granites that create the scenery and climbing pleasures of Yosemite National Park.
Multiple Definitions of Granite
A) Introductory Course Definition
Granite is a coarse-grained, light-colored igneous rock composed mainly of feldspars and quartz with minor amounts of mica and amphibole minerals. This simple definition enables students to easily identify the rock based upon a visual inspection.
B) Petrologist's Definition
Granite is a plutonic rock in which quartz makes up between 10 and 50 percent of the felsic components and alkali feldspar accounts for 65 to 90 percent of the total feldspar content. Applying this definition requires the mineral identification and quantification abilities of a competent geologist.
Many rocks identified as “granite” using the introductory course definition will not be called “granite” by the petrologist - they might instead be alkali granites, granodiorites, pegmatites or aplites. A petrologist might call these “granitoid rocks” rather than granites. There are other definitions of granite based upon mineral composition.
This chart illustrates the generalized mineral composition of igneous rocks. Granites and rhyolites (compositionally equivalent to granite but of a fine grain size) are composed mainly of orthoclase feldspar, quartz, plagioclase feldspar, mica and amphibole.
C) Commercial Definition
The word “granite” is used by people who sell and purchase cut stone for structural and decorative use. These "granites" are used to make countertops, floor tiles, curbing, building veneer, monuments and many other products.
All of the rocks above would be called "granite" in the commercial stone industry. Clockwise from top left they are: granite, schist, pegmatite and labradorite. Each of the images above represents a slab of polished rock about eight inches across.
In the commercial stone industry a “granite” is a rock with visible grains that is harder than a marble. Under this definition gabbro, basalt, pegmatite, schist, gneiss, syenite, monzonite, anorthosite, grannodiorite, diabase, diorite and many other rocks will be called “granite”. The collection of images at right illustrates the range of rocks that might be called "granite".
To log this cache.
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Questions
1. Answer the questions under by visiting the Coordinates.
A. How do Granite Form?
B. Why is granite a common stone used for monuments?
C. Can you see any xenolith’s in the stone at gz? And what is a xenolith? (Answer can be found at GZ)
D. An Xenoliths shape is rounded. Can you give a reason for its shape?
E. Look at the black and shiny spots in the granite. What are they, and what type of stone does it typically occur in? (Answer can be found at GZ)
F. How many levels in high makes the Obelisk fountain? (Answer can be found at GZ)
2. Take a photo of yourself, the group or your GPS when logging the cache.
Without revealing any answers!
(It’s voluntary to post a photo in your online log)
Obelisk Fountain - Stratford, London
This 13 metre (40 feet), grey granite memorial obelisk was erected in 1861 by the friends of Samuel Gurney. The inscription, on the plinth of the monument, reads:
In remembrance of
Samuel Gurney
who died the 5th June 1856
erected by his fellow parishioners
and friends
1861
When the ear heard him then it blessed him
"Gurney, Samuel (1786–1856), banker and philanthropist, was born at Earlham Hall, near Norwich, on 18 October 1786, the second son of John Gurney (1749–1809), Quaker banker, of Norwich, and his wife, Catherine (1754–1792), daughter of John Bell, merchant, of London. He was the brother of Joseph John Gurney, Daniel Gurney, Elizabeth Fry, and Louisa Gurney Hoare.
Samuel Gurney was educated at Wandsworth, Surrey, and at Hingham, Norfolk. At the age of fourteen he was placed in the counting-house of his brother-in-law and fellow Quaker, Joseph Fry, tea merchant and banker, of St Mildred's Court, Poultry, London. On 7 April 1808 he married his third cousin Elizabeth, daughter of James Sheppard of Ham House, Essex, a handsome residence, which the young couple inherited in 1812, and his wife, Sarah, fourth daughter of Henry Gurney of Norwich, founder of Gurney's Bank. Ham House was to be the Gurneys' place of residence during nearly the whole of their married life; they had nine children, including Samuel Gurney who also became a philanthropist and banker. In 1874 their grandson John Gurney gave a large sum towards the City of London Corporation's purchase of Ham House and its grounds for a public space now known as West Ham Park. The wealth that came to Samuel Gurney from his father-in-law, as well as that bequeathed to him by his father, enabled him to negotiate a partnership with the bill-broking firm of Richardson and Overend in 1807. The firm's business grew rapidly, to the point where, by the early 1820s, it was the largest bill-broking concern in London, complementing the discounting of bills with the advance of credit on all kinds of securities.
In the panic of 1825 the firm, which had by then become Overend, Gurney & Co., were able to lend money to many houses to tide over their difficulties. Gurney henceforth became known as ‘the bankers' banker’, and many firms who had previously dealt with the Bank of England now commenced depositing their surplus cash in his hands. In 1856 it was calculated that his house held deposits amounting to £8 million. In his financial dealings Gurney was entirely representative of the developing network of credit which helped to propel British industrialization at a crucial phase. His financial standing was sustained by religious and kinship ties with fellow Quakers, and he conveyed a sense of trustworthiness and gained a reputation for unimpeachable integrity.
Gurney played a part in the efforts of J. J. Gurney, Fowell Buxton, and Elizabeth Fry for the improvement of prison discipline and the reform of the criminal code. He refused to prosecute a man who had forged his name, knowing well that death was the punishment for such an offence. He also promoted the Niger expedition, and in March 1841 entertained Captain H. D. Trotter (1802–1859), Commander W. Allen (1793–1864), and a large number of the officers of the expedition at a farewell dinner at Upton. In 1849 he undertook a tour of Ireland, where he made considerable gifts to poor people still suffering from the effects of the famine. He became treasurer of the British and Foreign School Society in 1843, and held that post until his death. Gurney was a generous patron of the infant colony of Liberia, kept up a correspondence with President Roberts, and for his many gifts was rewarded by his name being given to a town of Gallenas in 1851. In 1853 he accompanied a deputation sent to Napoleon III to express a desire for a long continuance of peace and amity between England and France.
Elizabeth Gurney died at Ham House on 14 February 1855; and in the autumn of that year, his own health having deteriorated, Samuel took up residence at Nice. Getting worse in the spring of 1856, he started back for England; but he got no further than Paris and died in a hotel in that city on 5 June 1856. He was buried in the Quaker burial-ground at Barking on 19 June, when an immense concourse of people attended the funeral. A 42 foot granite obelisk was erected in his memory in Stratford Broadway, London, in 1861. Gurney's eldest son, John Gurney of Earlham Hall, did not long survive him, dying on 23 September 1856.
It was fortunate that Gurney did not live to see the fate of Overend, Gurney & Co. Less than ten years after his death, in August 1865, a firm that was an exemplar of Quaker probity was reorganized as a joint-stock company; its failure on 10 May 1866, with liabilities of more than £11 million, was one of the great crashes in the history of the City of London in the nineteenth century."
