The Building Stones of England: Surrey

This guide describes Northamptonshire's local building stones in their geological context. It includes examples of buildings and structures where the stones have been used. The geology of Surrey comprises sedimentary strata laid down during the Cretaceous, Palaeogene-Neogene (Tertiary) and Quaternary periods of geological time. The succession becomes younger north-westwards across the county. The oldest exposed strata, represented by sandstones, siltstones and mudstones assigned to the Lower Cretaceous Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation, the Wadhurst Clay Formation and the Ashdown Formation, occur in the far south-eastern corner of Surrey, between Shipley Bridge, Lingfield, Felbridge and Dormansland. To the north, and stretching right across southern Surrey between Haslemere and the county border with Kent (encompassing the towns of Cranleigh, Ewhurst, Coldharbour, Capel, Charlwood, Earlswood and Horley), lies the outcrop of the Weald Clay Formation. This comprises mainly mudstones, with subordinate siltstones, shelly limestones (the Paludina Limestones) and occasional clay ironstones.