Editing Palace of Westminster (section)

=== Stonework ===
In 1839 Charles Barry toured Britain, looking at quarries and buildings, with a committee which included two leading geologists and a stonecarver.<ref name="stonework">[http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/architecture/palacestructure/the-stonework/ UK Parliament website "stonework" page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502114640/http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/architecture/palacestructure/the-stonework/ |date=2 May 2015 }} Accessed 4 January 2014.</ref>  They selected Anston, a sand-coloured magnesian [[limestone]] quarried in the villages of [[Anston]], [[South Yorkshire]], and [[Mansfield Woodhouse]], [[Nottinghamshire]].<ref name="Factsheet G11">{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/g11.pdf |title=The Palace of Westminster |date=May 2009 |publisher=House of Commons Information Office |access-date=5 August 2010}}</ref>  Two quarries were chosen from a list of 102, with the majority of the stone coming from the former. A crucial consideration was transport, achieved on water via the [[Chesterfield Canal]], the North Sea and the rivers [[River Trent|Trent]] and Thames.<ref>Richardson, Christine (2007). ''Yorkshire Stone to London: To Create the Houses of Parliament''. Richlow Histories. {{ISBN|1-870002-95-4}}.</ref>  Furthermore, Anston was cheaper, and "could be supplied in blocks up to four feet thick and lent itself to elaborate carving".<ref name="stonework" />
[[File:Big Ben from the Westminster Bridge.jpg|thumb|View from the Westminster Bridge, highlighting the distinctive colour of the stonework]]
Barry's new Palace of Westminster was rebuilt using the sandy-coloured Anston limestone. However the stone soon began to decay owing to pollution and the poor quality of some of the stone used. Although such defects were clear as early as 1849, nothing was done for the remainder of the 19th century even after much studying.<ref>{{cite book|title=Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862|year=1863|publisher=D. Appleton & Company|location=New York|page=201 |url=https://archive.org/stream/1862appletonsan02newyuoft#page/n208/mode/1up}}</ref> During the 1910s, however, it became clear that some of the stonework had to be replaced. In 1928 it was deemed necessary to use [[Clipsham stone]], a honey-coloured limestone from [[Rutland]], to replace the decayed Anston. The project began in the 1930s but was halted by the outbreak of the Second World War and completed only during the 1950s. By the 1960s pollution had again begun to take its toll. A stone conservation and restoration programme to the external elevations and towers began in 1981 and ended in 1994.<ref name="Factsheet G12">{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/g12.pdf |title=Restoration of the Palace of Westminster: 1981–94 |date=August 2003 |publisher=House of Commons Information Office |access-date=5 August 2010}}</ref>