THE BEAUTY OF STONE
THE WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL MARBLES
(ISBN 978-0-9560211-0-6)

Westminster Cathedral, the principal Roman Catholic cathedral in Britain, is decorated in the Byzantine style with marble and mosaics. It has well over a hundred different varieties of marble from twenty-five countries on five continents, more than any other building in the country. Many of the marbles are ancient. Others are from quarries rediscovered and reopened in the nineteenth century. This book identifies and describes these beautiful natural stones and relates their fascinating history.

It is believed that this is the first time that the marble decoration of a large building such as Westminster Cathedral has been examined in such detail. The author is the Cathedral Historian and was also for many years Director of Tours, and has been studying and researching the marbles for the last fifteen years. In that time he has spoken to numerous academics, geologists, marble merchants and visitors to the Cathedral from many different countries, and has conducted a series of tours on the marbles. It is as a result of the considerable interest expressed in a book on the subject that he has produced the present study. In the process he has examined the marbles in a wide range of museums and other buildings, and has travelled all over Europe and into North Africa to discover and explore the old marble quarries. Many photographs of these are included.

The book opens with the use of marble in history - by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and subsequently up to the Napoleonic period. It continues with the role played by nineteenth century explorers in discovering and opening up the ancient quarries and describes how and when the marbles found were installed in the Cathedral. Another section is concerned with the methods and sources available to identify a marble with certainty. The next part deals individually with the most ancient and interesting examples to be found in the Cathedral, their origins and where they can be found elsewhere. There is then an 'Instant Pictorial Guide' consisting of large, annotated colour photographs of the Cathedral nave, chapels etc showing the location of the main marbles in the Cathedral and their countries of origin. This is followed by a complete list of all the marbles by their location and then by a co-ordinated alphabetical list.

The book is a laminated paperback, measuring 30cm x 23cm, comprising 116 pages, and is comprehensively illustrated in colour with almost 100 photographs of the Cathedral marbles, of the quarries from which they came and examples of how marble has been used in other countries. It is intended to appeal both to the tens of thousands who visit the Cathedral each year and to those with a particular interest in marble - whether they be academics, geologists, students, marble merchants, those attempting to identify marbles elsewhere or those simply interested in the beauty of natural stone. The book is available from the Cathedral Gift Shop or by post, wholesale and retail, from John Daly, the Cathedral Commercial Manager, at the address below or Email: johndaly@rcdow.org.uk.

The Beauty of Stone – The Westminster Cathedral Marbles
By Patrick Rogers
Published: Oremus 2008, Price £19.99

The following review by Peter Howell, former Chairman of the Victorian Society, was first published in Oremus, the magazine of Westminster Cathedral, December 2008.

Everyone who visits Westminster Cathedral must be struck by the extraordinary variety of marbles used in its decoration. There has, however, been no complete account of them until now. The late Mgr Francis Bartlett (Sub-Administrator 1954-64; Administrator 1967-77) was an expert but regrettably, apart from two articles published in the Cathedral Friends Newsletter in 1989, his knowledge perished with him. Fortunately, Patrick Rogers was able to pick the brains of Francis’s brother, Aelred, before he died in 2004. It was Aelred who was responsible, with devotion and skill, for the marble revetment of the nave, carried out in faithful accordance with the drawings of J F Bentley (the Cathedral Architect) in 1959-63. He was called in again to advise on the marble decoration of 1995, including the installation of the remarkable blue panels (Azul Macaubas) in the nave. In addition, Patrick Rogers has consulted many other experts, used a wide range of published sources, and made numerous expeditions to quarries in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Egypt.

He has published a number of articles on the marbles in Oremus, but it is a cause for celebration that he has synthesised his knowledge in this splendid book which has been beautifully produced, with almost a hundred colour illustrations, by Oremus itself. Those responsible deserve the warmest congratulations.

The book begins with a brief history of the use of marble, followed by a study of the ‘Marble Seekers’, who include three firms chiefly responsible for the Cathedral marbles – Farmer & Brindley, Fenning & Co, and J Whitehead & Sons. It then gets down to the basics of identifying the marbles, going through the main types one by one. Modestly tucked away after this is the author’s engaging account of his ‘Personal Odyssey’ in exploring the quarries. Next comes a ‘Pictorial Guide’, in which large colour photographs of the different parts of the Cathedral are annotated with their various marbles. Then the Cathedral is divided into chapels, etc with lists of the marbles used in them, followed by an alphabetical list of all the marbles with their origins and precise location in the Cathedral. The final total come to 126 (plus three unidentified ones) – an astonishing number. Finally, a section on ‘Sources’ contains a substantial bibliography.

The book comes up to date with the two panels of inlaid marbles set in the empty spaces on either side of the entrance to the Holy Souls Chapel in 2003, designed by Tom Phillips to commemorate the first London performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, which took place in the Cathedral in 1903. There is virtually no scope for further marblework, so this book can be regarded as the definitive account. It is for the completion of the mosaic decoration that the present and future generations have to strive.

It is greatly to be hoped that Patrick Rogers’s book will lead to a more careful attitude towards the marbles than has been apparent at some times in the past, when holes have been drilled for electrical fittings or other purposes, and the flat surfaces, or even columns, have been seen as handy places for sticking up notices, children’s artwork or floral decorations, with tape or Blu-tack. One of the worst offenders has been – amazing as it may seem – the Friends’ Desk, now the Information Desk. The marblework should be treated with the reverence which – as this book could not more clearly demonstrate – it deserves.

On the cover of the book is a photograph of one of the finest pieces of marblework in the Cathedral, the baldacchino. Bentley regarded his design as ‘the best thing about the Cathedral’, but sadly never lived to see it erected. The story of the long delay caused by Cardinal Vaughan’s misguided, and frustrated, desire to have the columns made of Algerian onyx instead of the yellow Verona specified by the architect, is told here. It is one of the most egregious mistakes in the Cathedral that the baldacchino has lights facing upwards within it. This negates its function as a canopy, making it look, by contrast, as if ready for blast-off. It must be hoped that the error will soon be put right.

Patrick Rogers has already put us all in his debt with his book Westminster Cathedral – From Darkness to Light (2003).We now owe him further gratitude for this invaluable addition to the Cathedral bibliography.

[Peter Howell is a former Chairman of the Victorian Society and has been a member of the Cathedral Art and Architecture Committee for more than 30 years.]

Celebrate our Cathedral with
two beautiful new books!

A BRIEF HISTORY

BEFORE THE CATHEDRAL

SIGNIFICANT DATES

DEDICATION OF THE CATHEDRAL

CATHEDRAL TOUR

CATHEDRAL MOSAICS

CATHEDRAL MARBLES

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

JOHN FRANCIS BENTLEY CATHEDRAL ARCHITECT

WILLIAM BRINDLEY SCULPTOR, MARBLE MERCHANT, EXPLORER

© Westminster Cathedral 2002   |   Credits  |   Glossary   |   Privacy and Legal

Westminster Cathedral   42 Francis Street, London SW1P 1QW   United Kingdom
Email us Tel: 020 7798 9055   Fax: 020 7798 9090   Registered Charity Number 233699