Sussex Marble

Sussex Marble is a fossiliferous freshwater limestone material which is prevalent in the Weald Clay of parts of Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex in southeast England. It is also called Petworth Marble, Bethersden Marble or Laughton Stone in relation to villages where it was quarried, and another alternative name is winklestone. It is referred to as "marble" as it polishes very well, although it is not a geologically described one as it has not been subject to metamorphosis. The matrix is made up of the shells of freshwater gastropods and viviparus winkles, similar to but larger than those making Purbeck Marble. The pale calcified remains of the shells are in a matrix of darker material. West Sussex has a good concentration of thin layers of Sussex Marble; beds typically measure no more than 1 foot (0.30 m) thick. There are often two beds—the lower formed of smaller-shelled gastropods than the upper—with a layer of calcareous clay between them.

The Weald of Kent, near the Sussex border, was the centre of quarrying activity, as the material was most prevalent there. Yeomen who owned their own farms were usually involved.Bethersden village is surrounded by "small reed-filled and tree-fringed ponds" formed by the filling over time of old marble workings. In the area, the Perpendicular Gothic towers of the parish churches of Biddenden, Headcorn, Smarden and Tenterden, pavements and paths in Staplehurst, and the Dering Arms, an inn next to Pluckley railway station, all use the material.

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