The building stones of South East England : mineralogy and provenance

The South East of England (London, Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire),
is characterized by a range of distinctive, traditional vernacular buildings. Stone from
the local strata, which ranges from Late Jurassic to Palaeogene in age, has been widely
used throughout the area for building purposes (footings, walling, roofing) and was
also frequently imported into London, which itself has no building stone resource of
any significance cropping out within its boundaries. Determining the provenance of
some of these stones, away from their local context, however, can be difficult, but is
greatly facilitated by studying their mineralogy, textures and fabrics under the
microscope.