This room has the most spectacular fireplace in the whole house geologically. It is the Frosterley ‘marble’ really a dark limestone which takes a polish and it is full of fossils. This is the same marble which is used in Durham Cathedral. The white skeletons made of calcite show up beautifully against the black background and the features of the fossils can be easily seen.

Library Fireplace Frosterley Marble

The fossils are of two types: solitary corals called Dibinophyllum bipartum and colonial corals called Lithostrotion junceum. The solitary coral which became extinct at the end of the Carboniferous shows the tabula, the axial column and the theca walls quite clearly. The walls of the colonial coral are also easy to see. This coral is also extinct. The dark limestone is so coloured because it contains a higher percentage of muddy material than the lighter limestones.

Library Fireplace – Fossils

The tour ends here in the Library with the best geological beauty saved to last.

Retrace your steps back down the stairs and turn left to reach the front door. If you wish to go to the south side of the house there is iron staining weathering showing under the verandah in the sandstone. This is the end of trail.