Tuesday, 3 November 2026
Monday, 2 November 2026
Coade and Egypt
For an excellent overview of the subject of the Egyptian Revival see
The Egyptian Revival by James Steven Curl. 2005
https://archive.org/stream/TheEgyptianRevival/The%20Egyptian%20Revival_djvu.txt
Coade Stone panel in the meeting-room of The Medical Society of London,
11 Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, London. It
was originally in the Society’s premises at Bolt Court, Fleet Street, and is
marked ‘COADE LITHODIPYRA 1787 \ The (unfortunately damaged) figure of
Isis-Hygeia stands on a severe block embellished with an inscription in Greek
framed by an ouroboros and flanked by sphinxes. Behind the goddess is a pyramid
of the Cestius type. The palm-tree underlines the Nilotic connection. Behind
the sphinx on the left is a toppled broken Ionic column, suggesting that
received wisdom (holding that the history of medicine began with the Creeks)
had been superseded by a recognition that medicine began, not with the Greeks,
but with the Egyptians.
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The Buscot Park Coade Artificial Stone Figures of Antinous at Buscot Park.
James Steven Curll suggests on of these figures might have come from Thomas Hopes house at Duchess Street.
View of the Temple from Deepdene Gardens, 1909.
© Surrey History Centre.
Image from -
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The Pair of Coade Artificial Stone Thrones.
Indented Coade 1800 and Coade Lambeth 1800.
Previously wth dealer Edward Hurst.
https://www.edwardhurst.com/detail.html?sid=373
Both signed on the side of the footrest, one is stamped 'Coade 1800', the other stamped ‘Coade Lambeth 1800’, designed by Thomas Hope (1769-1831) produced by Coade in 1800.
The finials replaced by Messrs Coade Ltd of Wilton in
2021.
Provenance: These thrones were designed by Thomas Hope for his house in Duchess Street.
Four can be seen in the picture gallery published
in his book Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, Plate 2. The
design illustrated in plate 19, fig 6 & 7.
These four thrones moved to Hope’s country house at Deepdene during the 19th century and were sold at the Humbert and Flint six day Deepdene sale in September 1917.
They were sold in two lots; Lot 1061 – A pair of three
foot fine Lambeth stone chairs with square seats and winged spinx arms, and Lot
1188 – Pair of fine Lambeth stone chairs, with square seats and winged spinx
arms and slab footrests.
Two of the four currently in situ at Parnham House, Sussex,
see fig.4-16. in Thomas Hope Regency Designer by Phillip Hewett-Jaboor.
This current pair have remained unrecorded since the sale in
1917 and have recently been rediscovered.
The Parham Coade Stone Thrones.
..............................................
Household Furniture And Interior Decoration, Executed From
Designs By Thomas Hope.
Plate 19.
Printer Thomas Bensley.
Publisher - Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, London.
1807.
Neither the added engraved title-plate nor any of the
numbered plates carries the signature of draughtsman or engraver; but on p.13
of the Introduction the author names the engravers as Mr Aikin and Mr Dawe
(that is Edmund Aikin and George Dawe).
Each carries the imprint of the publishers, Longman, Hurst,
Rees, and Orme, and the date (1 May 1807).
This is thought to be the first work in English in which the
term 'interior decoration' was used. The text and plates describe furnishings
in ancient Greek and Roman style, and some in Egyptian, oriental and French
neoclassical styles, most of which had been designed for Hope's own house in
Duchess Street, London, where they complemented displays of ancient sculpture
and pottery. Hope's approach is sometimes fairly eclectic - plate 21, for
example, showing a Chinese vase mounted on a neoclassical stand. The
arrangement of his Duchess Street house was consciously intended to be didactic
and exemplary. Entrance tickets had first been issued in 1804, to the sixty
Royal Academicians.
The book was Hope's most influential work. It was imitated
in George Smith's Collection of designs for household furniture (1808) and
Richard Brown's The rudiments of drawing cabinet and upholstery furniture
(1820). The conclusion of Hope's 'Explanation' (p.51-3) is a 'list of the
different works ... which have been of most use to me', which includes Percier
and Fontaine's Recueil des décorations intérieurs (1801-).
............................
Egyptian Lioness from the Coade Catalogue 1784
Bibliotheque Nationale Paris.
...............................
The Deepdene Lion.
On a moulded plinth, the front impressed 'COADE LONDON 1819'
26 ½ in. (67.5 cm.) high; 15 ½ in. (39.5 cm.) wide; 48 ¾ in.
(124 cm.) deep
Provenance
This was the second lioness supplied the first having to be replaced (reason unknown).
Purchased from the Deepdene in the 1960s by Peter
Hone.
Private Collection, 12 Broad Street, Boxford, Suffolk.
Acquired from Hilary Chelminski, London, September 2001.
Photograph of 1965 (Historic Buildings and Antiquities of
Surrey, CC1101/3/53/189, reproduced without the
permission of Surrey History Centre).
https://architecturalhistoryjournal.com/articles/10.5334/arh.32#F21
Thursday, 29 October 2026
Austin and Seeley - the Hound of the Alcibiades.
Updated 31 October 2026 with the extracts from JC Loudon's Architectural Magazine of 1834.
I had already started to put researches together into the history of these dogs in February 2025
but the road to hell etc....
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-van-spangens.html
The genesis of this post was a request by the owners to undertake research into a life size but rather distressed cast of an Hound of the Alcibiades in a garden in Gloucershire and for advice in its restoration. I had no hesitation in recommending Messrs Coade of Wilton who had carried out several excellent restorations for me.
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-coade-clock-case-with-movement-by.html
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2026/01/coade-stone-statue-of-norman-archer.html
It wasn't until the removal and cleaning that the Felix Austin mark was revealed.
The Artificial Stone Dog of Alcibiades.
A Molossian Hound.
Cast by Felix Austin - 1820's.
The restoration was carried out by Messrs Coade of Wilton, Wiltshire using all the original pieces. All rusting ferrous metal inside the legs and in any other interior areas of the sculpture where metal was found was removed.
The sculpture was reconstructed as a whole using A4 marine-grade stainless steel pins and cramps internally across all broken sections.
The restoration also included the
addition of a plinth block to raise the sculpture above any ground water and to
provide extra structural integrity.
https://coade.co.uk/restorations/dogofalcibiades/
The Dog after restoration at the premises of Messrs Coade.
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The Dog Before Restoration.
Images below from Messrs Coade website.
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The Illustration below from the 1841 Catalogue.
The Specimen Book of Austin and Seeley’s Artificial Stone Manufactury, published in 1841.
The Catalogue is Published in full below.
The works of Coade's Manufactory, Messrs Blashfield, and Mark Blanchard all of whom produced fired terracotta or Artificial Stone are reasonably well covered but little has been published of Felix Austin and John seeleys products - here is an attempt to rectify this.
..........................
Raccolta d'Antiche Statue, Busti, Bassirilievi ed Altre Sculture :
Restaurate da Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, Scultore Romano.
Pub. Rome 1769 - 1772.
A must for anyone interested in Roman Sculpture in Rome in the 18th Century
3 Volumes available in high resolution from the truly excellent Hathi Trust website.
Plate 6. Volume 1.
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/103171332
...........................
The British Museum Hound of the Alcibiades.
aka Mollossian Dog.
Height: 1.05 metres (max.)
collection: Bartolomeo Cavaceppi.
Previous owner/ex-collection:
Henry Constantine Jennings acquired the sculpture in Rome, between 1753 and 1756, from Bartolomeo Cavaceppi for 400 saidi.
“A fine dog it was and a lucky dog I was to find it” Henry Constantine Jennings.
Jennings' debts from wagering on the horses eventually forced its sale; indeed, "Of all the men in England, he must be allowed to have been the least qualified for such a pursuit."
In 1778, the statue was purchased at auction by Charles Duncombe, member of Parliament, for 1,000 guineas (£1,050). On the first day of the sale, Edmund Burke was said to have remarked with some incredulity, "A thousand guineas! The representation of no animal whatever is worth so much," to which Dr. Johnson replied, "Sir, it is not the worth of the thing, but the skill in forming it, which is so highly estimated. Every thing that enlarges the sphere of human powers, that shews man he can do what he thought he could not do, is valuable" (Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, April 3, 1778).
Following the seizure of his assets the dog was sold at Phillips for £1000.00 in 1778 where acquired by Charles Duncombe, 1st Baron Feversham.
Sold to the British Museum
The original stone sculpture was discovered at Monte Cagnuolo, near the ancient Lanuvium, the site of an imperial villa of Antoninus Pius.
The story told was that Henry Jennings saw it in a pile of rubble in Bartolomeo Cavaceppi's workshop in Rome between 1753 and 1756, bought it from him for 400 scudi.
The dog makes 'a most noble appearance in a
gentleman's hall', - Dr Samuel Johnson.
A similar pair are in the Pio Clementino Museum (Vatican). These dogs also have retained their tails and have more pointed ears but otherwise have been heavily restored.
Another copy is in
the Uffizi Museum (Florence), with uncropped tail.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_2001-1010-1
..........................
The Wolterton Hall, Norfolk Hound.
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/dog-of-alcibiades-312539
...........................
For more on the profligate and perhaps not very bright Jennings and the dog see (behind a pay wall!)
...................
The Victoria Park, Hackney Dogs.
The two identical statues, stand guard over the Bonner Street entrance, next to Regents Canal.
These are replicas - the originals seem to have disappeared.
Lady Regnart donated the originals in 1912 after the death of her husband.
https://www.londonremembers.com/sites/dogs-of-alcibiades
.....................................
The Sewerby Hall Dogs.
Sewerby Hall, Bridlington, East Riding, Yorkshire.
On the death of John Greame III in 1841 ownership passed to his eldest son
Yarburgh Greame, who also took the surname Yarburgh on inheriting his mother's
estate at Heslington. Yarburgh made many improvements to the house and gardens
at Sewerby, including a large conservatory called the Orangery in the mid 19th
century, a clock tower in 1847, and finally the gatehouse in 1848.
...........................
The Petworth Hound.
Image here from
The Plaster Hound at Burton Constable Hall, Yorkshire supplied by
Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716 -99) through James Byres for just two zechinis (£1) in 1771. -
A reduced copy/ cast.
Height 37 x W 28 x D 21 cm
..................................
The Hounds at Blickling Hall, Norfolk.
1140 x 900 x 1020 mm
The Royal Collection Austin and Seeley Composition stone
Hounds at Osborne House - Isle of Wight.
but... Image courtesy FLICKR website
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The Basildon Park Hounds.
Size - 1110 x 700 x 1000 mm
The National Trusts website states - Mollosina Stone?
Provenance - Bought by James Morrison in Italy 1845 - 46.
This statement needs checking.
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/266938.1
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The Oxford Botanical Garden Hound.
This Austin and Seeley dog was first
recorded in 1912 in the Oxford Botanic Garden at the Magdalen College end of a
path. It is thought to have been installed during the tenure of Charles Daubeny
as Professor of Botany (1834-67). In 1962 the dog was moved and was, until
shortly before December 2012, on a wall in Malthouse Yard, overlooking the Mill
Stream. To protect the dog from further
weather damage it was moved inside and is now, 2024, in the foyer overlooking
Tidmarsh Lane.
Image courtesy RIBA - 1959.
info here from -
https://www.londonremembers.com/sites/dogs-of-alcibiades
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The Alcibiedes Hounds - Marble Versions.
A Pair of Marble Hounds were with Architectural Heritage -
https://www.architectural-heritage.co.uk/stock/d/the-molossian-hounds/400409
........................
The Portland Stone Hounds at Wrest Park
A pair of copies possibly installed by Robert Adam at Newby
Hall, Yorkshire, about 1780, and in the later 19th century a pair was set in
the gardens at Basildon Park, Bedfordshire.
.......................
Designs for Grounds and Farm by John Buonarotti Papworth (1775 - 1847).
for Frederick Cass at Little Grove, Barnet.
1839.
......................
Felix Austin and the Patent for Portland Cement (by Joseph Aspdin 1824).
It would appear that Felix Austin was one of the first to recognise its potential for use in Garden Ornament without using a material which required firing in a kiln.
One of the main thrusts for binder development was to develop binders which had the strength and qualities of Parker’s Roman cement (Patent 1796) but with a colouring that could be described as matching natural stone such as Portland stone.
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Felix Austin and John Seeley - Some Notes:
An excellent source for iniating researches is -
https://thegardenhistory.blog/2019/01/26/austin-seeley/
Felix Austin was a prominent manufacturer of English garden ornaments in composition stone active in London from 1826 until 1850.
The business seems to have commenced at 24 Church Street, Rotherhithe.
In june 1827 he was operating from premises in Albany St, Regents Park, Camden info Howell and Edwards)
He had premises at 1-3 Keppel Row, New Road, Fitzroy Square from 1830 and had premises further down the street.
In 1834 he was paid for five
garden vases to Sir Francis Chantrey’s design (or at least to be placed
according to his design) at Holkham Hall, Norfolk
Having from 1826 worked with marble, in about 1828 he bought moulds or dies from the bankrupt Van Spangen and Powell, the company he had acquired, which had manufactured artificial stone.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Heal-106-22
For the van Spangens see my post - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-van-spangens.html
Around 1840 Felix Austin merged with John Seeley and renamed the firm Austin and Seeley.
Austin signed a number of tablets alone. Those to Frances Samwell and Sophia Pym also carried Seeley’s signature.
Like his predecessor, Mrs Coade, Austin was shrewd enough to employ leading architects to work for him.
He provided oriental vases designed by Sydney Smirke for the Pantheon Bazaar in 1833 and a pedestal for Ironmongers’ Hall in 1834.
J B
Papworth and others designed a number of large fountains for him.
..................
Felix Austin some independent works - Extracted from Gunnis.
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
The Funeral Monuments.
1826. William Ruddiman - Funerary
Monument - St John’s Wood Chapel, Marylebone, London.
1830. Countess of Athlone - Funerary Monument - Sacombe, Herts.
1830. Catherine Petre - Funerary Monument - Selby, West Riding. Yorks.
1832. Lieutenant-Colonel Dashwood - Funerary Monument. Kirtlington, Oxon.
1841. Frances Samwell (designed by B Watson) Funerary Monument. Upton,
Northants.
1841. Sophia Pym - Funerary Monument - Willian, Herts.
Architectural Sculpture
by 1834 - (designed by J B Papworth) Vases etc Pantheon Bazaar, Oxford St, London (untraced)
by 1834 Fountain (designed by J B Papworth) for Earl Amherst, Montreal House, Sevenoaks, Kent (untraced)
by 1835 Fountain
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The company Seeley (late Austin and Seeley) was still in existence in 1872 .
The firm was still operating in 1872, when the Duke of Atholl paid £25 for a composition statue of Diana and a deer ("Dianna Chassareuse") (Archives Duke of Atholl, quoted by RG/JP, 1, 41).
Felix Austin also had premises with John Seeley at 24 Church Street,
Rotherhithe.
The Bedfordshire Archives records -
"Brief history of Felix Austin, a Roman or Coad stone
manufacturer c. 1836, believed to have supplied ornaments in the form of two
eagles, lions, a dolphin bowl, a dog and a boy for the Garden; and J.V.
Papworth, who designed for F. Austin; also Pulham & Sons, stoneworkers of
Bishops Stortford [Hertfordshire], early C19th"
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/bb767566-736e-422a-af4f-8a9d8f0fb854
...............................
John Seely - (1789 - 1870).
John Seeley (1789 - c. 1870) had trained at the Royal Academy
Schools and sculpted sevral funeral monuments, as well as making an artificial stone,
which he called ‘ artificial limestone’.
Austin was in business as an “Artificial Stone Ornament Manufacturer” by 1826 at the latest, and had held a sale of a large quantity of stock, as well as the leasehold of some premises in Albany Street, Regents Park in June 1827.
He was more than a maker of garden
ornaments. According to Ray Desmond’s Dictionary of British Botanists and
Horticulturist he was originally a
nurseryman, whilst trade
directories describe him as an
architect, statuary mason and sculptor.
............................
Page 237, from The Gardener's Magazine and Register of Rural & Domestic Improvement - 1826.
Pub. by Loudon, J. C. (John Claudius).
Loudon also recommends Austin's Chimney pots on page 554.
Image below from the London Picture Archive
Clipping from the Morning Advertiser – Wednesday 13 June 1827.
The Gardeners Magazine 1831.
The Architectural Magazine Vol I - 1834.
...........................
THE ARCHITECTURAL MAGAZINE, AND JOURNAL
OF IMPROVEMENT IN ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING, AND FURNISHING,
Pub JC Loudon 1834.
.............................
Advertisement from The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal - 1835.
....................................
The Specimen Book of Austin and Seeley’s Artificial Stone Manufactury, published in 1841.
Publishrd in French and English, indicates that they imported or traded in artifical stone figures with France.
The English title page reads ‘Collections of ornaments at Austin and Seeley’s Works, nearly opposite Trinity Church, New Road, London, for Gardens, Parks and Pleasure Grounds, consisting of fountains, tazzas, vases and pedestals, ornamental fish ponds, flower pots, sun-dials, sphinxes, eagles, lions &c, church fonts, tables, monuments, and screens, crosses, pinnacles and other Gothic decorations’. Special lines were the Medici and Borghese vases.
The engravings were numbered, with measurements, but with prices suppled only in French currency (East Riding Archives Office, DDCC (2)/45A/22).
In 1842 The
Ecclesiologist mercilessly attacked Austin and Seeley’s artificial stone fonts (Gunnis).
The pages below reproduced from the Yale Centre for British Art Website -
An example of this font illustrated below) is currently on the market.
..................................
Four Pages from another undated (after 1841) Austin and Seeley catalogue.
https://archive.org/details/SelectSpecimensOfAustinSeeleysWorksInArtificialStoneManufactory/mode/2up
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The Globe 18 June 1845.
A cash raising exercise.
...........................
The Great Exhibition Fountain by John Seeley.
...............................
Clipping from the Field 17 Feb 1855.
..................
Clipping from The Builder 5 Mar 1859.
.................
Hereford Times - 8 January 1859.
Luigi Bienaimé began his training at the Accademia di Belle
Arti in Carrara, his hometown. Having been awarded a scholarship, he moved to
Rome, where he joined Bertel Thorvaldsen’s studio on Via Quattro Fontane,
immersing himself in the neoclassical aesthetic. A master of marble work,
Bienaimé quickly became one of the Danish sculptor’s closest collaborators, and
was entrusted with the management of his studio. From 1827 onwards, with his
master’s encouragement, he also undertook major private commissions and gained
an international reputation. He opened his own studio at 5 Piazza Barberini,
which Tsar Nicholas I visited in person in 1845. The links between the sculptor
and Russia can still be seen today at the Hermitage Museum, which houses at
least five of his works. Bienaimé also carried out numerous commissions for
German patrons, including the King of Württemberg, the Prince of Oldenburg and
Count Dietrichstein.
......................
A couple of clippings from the Gardeners Chronicle....
1863 and 1864.
The Company here is referred to as Austins and his invention of Artificial stone of 1826.
.
31 December 1864.
.....................
.........................
It appears that John Seeley died in 1870 bgiven that adverts appear in early 1871 selling off stock from “the late firm of Austin and Seeley …which had stood through the present winter.”
Clipping from Weekly Gazette April 1870.
The firm was still operating in 1872, when the Duke of
Atholl paid £25 for a composition statue, Diana and a deer (Archives Duke of
Atholl, quoted by RG/JP, 1, 41).
Whatever remained in the Euston Road / New Road yard was eventually
auctioned off, without reserve in 1877.
.................
Austin and Seeley - the end (not quite).
Clipping from John Bull - 19th
November 1881.
....................
Clipping from St James's Gazette 1891.
With an interesting reference to Coade and Croggan's premises on the New Road /Euston Road
and its subsequent use by Austin ans Seeley.
and the Coade Stone group originally above the entrance to the Coade Gallery at the foot of Westminster Bridge on the Lambeth side
...............................
Country Life 27 February 1904.
Sanders, 365 Euston Road.
NB the two Coade type figures in the top row.
The Diana de Gabies and the Farnese Flora below
Image below from the Birkbeck College Archive.
The Slide is labelled 'Mr Breakell's vestal'. (Breakwell?)
Messrs Saunders were still in business in 2014.
NB. the Coade type lidded urn on the left in the image below.
.........................
Extract from the Builder 25 July 1868.
.........................
of Tangential Interest.
At some future juncture I will expand on Rev. John Liardet and his 1773 patent Oil Render / Stucco.
and his fight with architect John Johnson.
The use of Liardet’s stucco by Robert and James Adam is fairlly well known and the dispute with the architect John Johnson, about alleged infringement of the patent because of the pamphlet warfare which occurred in 1778 and because it was for many years regarded as a leading case in patent law.
But Liardet v. Johnson presided over by Lord Mansfield was only the first of three major lawsuits which embroiled the Adam brothers between 1777 and 1787.
The ruling by Lord Mansfield might have been something he came to regret given the subsequent failure of Liardet's stucco at Kenwood House, Hampstead where Adam was the architect.
It must certainly have sorely tried relations between the Adams and their client, Lord Mansfield, who, Humphry Repton later related: often declared, that had the front of Kenwood been originally covered in Parian marble, he should have found it less expensive than stucco!!
Although the Adams and Liardet were successful it
was a pyrrhic victory. By 1780 the deficiencies in the stucco were becoming
apparent - with water penetrating behind the stucco. The brothers faced a major claim for damages from Lord Stanhope and
their agreement with Liardet collapsed in recrimination.
see - https://www.aschb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Vol-22.pdf
...................................
Portland Cement - for an excellent introduction tothe subject see -
https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cement.html#parker
.................................
Rev. James Parker (died in America after 1797) .
In 1791, he was granted a patent "Method of Burning
bricks, Tiles, Chalk". His second patent in 1796 "A certain Cement or
Terras to be used in Aquatic and other Buildings and Stucco Work", covers
Roman cement, a term used in a 1798 pamphlet advertising his cement.
It seems that went into business with Samuel Wyatt who with his cousin Charles Wyatt produced cement in the name of Parker & Wyatt.
Parker himself emigrated to America in 1797, and died soon afterwards. There is evidence that the Wyatt "Roman" cement was used in building the famous Bell Rock Lighthouse.
The cement was made from natural nodules of chalk and clay ("septaria") from the Isle of Sheppey.
From around 1807 a
number of people looked to make artificial versions of this cement (or more
strictly hydraulic lime as it was not burnt at fusion temperatures). Amongst
these were James Frost who took out about twenty patents from 1811 to 1822 including
one for "British Cement".
Parker's Roman Cement - patented 1796. Parker of Pedlar's Acre and later of Bankside.
A few notes -
https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cemkilndoc006.html
He does not refer to it as artificial stone.
........................
Parker & Co Stone Lime Merchants, Pedlar's Acre, Lambeth -
see - Wakefield's Merchant and Tradesman's General Directory for
London 1794.
It appears that Parker was in some sort of partnership with a Samuel Wyatt in the 1790's.
Lownds directory 1798 notes Parker and Company Stone Lime Wharf, Kings Arms Stairs.
Kings Arms Stairs gave direct access to the Coade Manufactory from the Thames
..................
Thomas Telford and Parkers Cement, Artificial Terras and Stucco.
Extract from the Monthly Review of 1797.
It should be noted that Parkers were in Pedlars Acre, Lambeth a stones throw from the Coade Manufactory prior to removal to Bankside.
For the later life of Wyatt Parker and Company at Atlas Wharf, Nos 108–110 Westferry Road, Millwall see
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols43-4/pp433-445
The origins of Wyatt, Parker & Company's involvement
with terracotta went back to c1815, when Charles Carter, a Soho plasterer,
began making architectural ornaments in terracotta, and red tiles with
Roman-cement inlays. Carter had some connection with Parker & Wyatt (as the
firm then was), which, according to Charles Barry, acquired 'many of his
things' on his retirement in the early 1830s.
The company and site were part taken over by John Marriot Blashfield in 1845 where he began producing terracotta in 1848.
.............................
In France, a material similar to "Roman" Cement
was prepared co incidentally in 1796 by burning and grinding a type of beach pebble found in the
vicinity of Boulogne. These were of septaria from the Kimmeridge Clay.
The first recorded suggestion that the “artificial”
limestone could be made by inter-grinding chalk and clay to a slurry is that of
Vicat in 1817: he and numerous other continental manufacturers used the
technique to make hydraulic limes. Vicat’s artificial hydraulic lime remained
in production into the twentieth century. In Britain, the main objective was to
emulate rapid-setting "Roman" Cement, and several patents were issued
for formulation of low-lime slurried mixtures. Of these, the most important was
that of Frost.
.....................
Portland Cement and Artificial Stone.
Aspdins Patent 1824.
Joseph Aspdin patented his "Portland Cement" in
1824 (Patent No 5022: granted 21 October, enrolled 18 December). The text
follows:
Specification for Artificial Stone.
A.D. 1824 No. 5022.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of
October, in the fifth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Aspdin, His especial
licence, that I, the said Joseph Aspdin, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Joseph Aspdin, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODES OF PRODUCING AN ARTIFICIAL
STONE;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Joseph Aspdin, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in his Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said part recited Letters Patent (as in and
by the same), reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I,
the said Joseph Aspdin, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in the following description thereof (that is to say):-
My method of making a cement or artificial stone for
stuccoing buildings, waterworks, cisterns, or any other purpose to which it may
be applicable (and which I call Portland cement) is as follows:- I take a
specific quantity of limestone, such as that generally used for making or
repairing roads, and I take it from the roads after it is reduced to a puddle
or powder; but if I cannot procure a sufficient quantity of the above from the
roads, I obtain the limestone itself, and I cause the puddle or powder, or the
limestone, as the case may be, to be calcined. I then take a specific quantity
of argillaceous earth or clay, and mix them with water to a state approaching
impalpability, either by manual labour or machinery. After this proceeding I
put the above mixture into a slip pan for evaporation, either by heat of the
sun or by submitting it to the action of fire or steam conveyed in flues or
pipe under or near the pan till the water is entirely evaporated. Then I brake
the said mixture into suitable lumps and calcine them in a furnace similar to a
lime kiln till the carbonic acid is entirely expelled. The mixture so calcined
is to be ground, beat, or rolled to a fine powder, and is then in a fit state
for making cement or artificial stone. This powder is to be mixed with a
sufficient quantity of water to bring it into the consistency of mortar, and
thus applied to the purposes wanted.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Aspdin, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
JOSEPH (L.S.) ASPDIN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1824, the aforesaid Joseph Aspdin came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
............................
EXTERIOR RENDERS DESIGNED TO IMITATE STONE: A REVIEW by Ian C Bristow.
see -
https://www.aschb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Vol-22.pdf
http://romanportland.net/files/doc/seminar2008/simon_swann_seminar2008s.pdf
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