Due to the presence of Bathstone, an oolitic limestone that has been mined from Bath and west Wiltshire since Roman times, we are occasionally called on to undertake work in the Bath and Bristol region.
Many of the historic buildings of Bath are constructed from this distinctive building stone, that has originated from underground mines and caverns east of Bath and stretching from approximately Bradford-on-Avon in the south, to Corsham and Batheaston in the north.
To a lesser extent, the historic mining of Fuller’s Earth – which was used as an absorbent in various industrial processes and, amongst other things, as cat litter! – is a significant localised problem south of Bath. Cornwall Mining Consultants have records of Fuller’s Earth workings, some of which date back to Roman times, and located predominantly around Combe Hay to the south of Bath, but also around Frome, Lonsdale, Tucking Mill and Duncorn Hill.