Page 11 - Oundle Life April 2021
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                                    stone has been worn away through centuries of exposure.
Oundle stone was quarried locally and used in various forms to construct buildings and boundary walls in Oundle and its surrounding villages. Back in the day there were
were often used to deliver different types, sizes, and qualities of stone for various uses. For example, as limestone is naturally occurring across multiple layers beneath our feet, the stone quarried from different depths is naturally
   a number of local quarries, with
the majority lying to the west of Oundle adjacent to Benefield road;
the golf course being a fine example
of five quarries that have since been repurposed into a challengingly-narrow but beautiful 18-hole course. Just one local quarry remains active today, Churchfield Quarry just off Harley Way on route to Lyveden New Bield.
In Mill Street I stop to marvel at the rich texture of the ‘hammer- dressed’ rubblestone
suited to different uses. Some layers will provide large, very strong stones which can be used for flooring and cladding, while other layers are naturally suited to more compact forms for general rubblestone walling.
As I strolled around Oundle late afternoon with my camera in hand and the sun setting quite appropriately out to the west over the old quarries, the town’s buildings were bathed in the
 Why so many quarries back in the day? Well, where the quarries were local to a settlement – such as Wadenhoe – we might conclude that it was simply easier to quarry and work the stone close to its intended use to reduce the challenges associated with moving large quantities over longer distances. However, multiple quarries
warmest of lights transforming the pale cream and grey into the most golden limestone. In Mill Street I stop to marvel at the rich texture of the ‘hammer-dressed’ rubblestone with large lime mortar joints in a boundary wall and in the row of humble – but to my eye magnificent – C17 cottages. On West Street I photograph the ‘high-
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