"Cheltenham Stone"

by Arthur Price.

ISBN: 1-904530-08-07

"Cheltenham Stone" unravels a fascinating facet of Cheltenham's architectural record and explores the history of all but forgotten but intriguing aspects of an underground industrial past. The received wisdom is that the Regency and Victorian stone fronted buildings of Cheltenham were constructed from freestone from the Leckhampton Quarries; this view is corrected, putting into perspective the part played by other nearby quarries.

It records how the stone was quarried, transported and prepared, and links quarries directly to the prestigious buildings they supplied stone for. In particular the book concentrates on the little known aspect of the quarrying industry - underground quarrying. Beneath wooded green hillsides near Cheltenham are the reamins of extensive underground quarries which played a pivitol role in supplying 'freestone' for buildings in Cheltenham.

Arthur Price was born at, and farms, Frocester Court in Gloucestershire where there are no less than eleven listed stone buildings. From this stems his interest in the stone trade and for nearly thirty years he has been studying this, uniquely combining geology, archaeology and archive research. He now acts as an independant consultant and has sourced stone for some of Gloucestershire's most notable buildings. He lectures ad writes extensively, recently contributing two chapters for the Gloucestershire volumes of the revised 'Pevsner Buildings of England Series'.