Beer Stone

Beer Quarry 'Caves'
The interior of Beer Stone Quarry
Location	Beer, Devon, UK
Geology	Limestone
Difficulty	Easy
Access	Public tourist attraction

Beer Quarry Caves is a man-made limestone underground complex located about a mile west of the village of Beer, Devon, and the main source in England for beer stone. The underground tunnels resulted from 2,000 years of quarrying beer stone, which was particularly favoured for cathedral and church features such as door and window surrounds because of its colour and workability for carving. Stone from the quarry was used in the construction of several of southern England's ancient cathedrals and a number of other important buildings as well as for many town and village churches, and for some buildings in the United States. Extraction was particularly intense during the Middle Ages, but continued until the 1920s. An adit to another set of workings can be seen from the South West Coast Path east of Branscombe, having been exposed by a landslip in the late 18th century. The quarry is part of the Jurassic Coast, and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Beer stone is a creamy-grey, fine-textured limestone from the Middle Cretaceous period that takes its name from the town of Beer, where it was quarried and mined from Roman times. The layer of the best stone (lowest number of flints) is about thirty feet thick. It is also found in other places in south-west England. Because of its fine grain, it is a "Free stone", which means that it can be sawed or squared up in any direction: the crystal structure does not restrict the directions in which it can be worked. When first mined, it is relatively soft and easily cut, but it hardens with exposure to the air, and becomes about as hard as Portland stone.

The earliest workings at the quarry were in the Roman period initially in open quarries, after which it was necessary to quarry into the side of the hill because of other rock strata above. At this time the estuary of the river Axe provided a safe harbour for the removal of the stone by boat. The Roman section is typified by large arches which support the roof and was hand excavated using picks and wooden wedges. Beer stone was used in the Roman villa of Honeyditches, Seaton.