Amongst present-day architects Sir Edwin Lutyens was the first to give hewn chalk an opportunity of showing its quality in serious architecture, Marsh Court in Hampshire being an instance of more than local celebrity.
In the great walls at the Bishop of Winchester’s palace, Farnham Castle in Surrey, the old builders appear to have used bricks, limestone and chalk proper, according as the several materials were delivered, quite indifferently, and with results altogether delightful.
Not all chalk is suitable for building, that near the surface being often far gone in decay and much too friable for such a purpose.
Even when apparently sound blocks have been gotten they are not infrequently found to be crossed in all directions by planes of weakness along which they are apt to fall to pieces in the handling.
From this cause the “waste” is sometimes considerable.
The well-known building “stones” from the quarries of Beer, Sutton, and Tottenhoe in Devonshire are really chalk, but in a form not readily distinguishable from ordinary free-stone.
The longer that chalk blocks are kept to dry before building-in the better, and the sun and wind of at least a year should be allowed free play upon them to dry out their natural sap and render them “frost-proof.”
During the drying-out process the chalk should, if possible, be protected from the rain.
For years after being built into the walls of a house, chalk will continue to dry and harden.
But it is essentially a somewhat porous material, and will quickly revenge itself on those neglecting its just demands for a sound roof and a proper damp-course.