Caen stone

How does it form?

Caen stone formed in the Middle Jurassic, during the Bathonian stage, about 167 million years ago. Normandy then lay on the edge of a shallow, warm sea; English Wikipedia describes the setting as shallow lagoons, French Wikipedia as shallow marine environments resembling mangrove swamps. Shell fragments, pieces of crinoids (sea lilies) and tiny lime pellets left by sea creatures piled up in these waters and were cemented by fine crystalline calcite and lime mud into stone.

The stone is taken from the upper part of the rock unit geologists call the Calcaire de Caen (Caen Limestone) Formation, and it formed at the same time as England’s Bath stone. The more shell fragments it contains, the harder and paler the stone; softer kinds are yellowish and less resistant to the weather.

What is it used for?

• Roman and medieval Normandy: In Gallo-Roman times it was taken from open quarries for sarcophagi and temple parts. In the 11th century William the Conqueror and his wife Matilda of Flanders built the two great abbeys of Caen, the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames, in it.
• Norman England: After the conquest of 1066 the stone was shipped to England down the River Orne and across the sea. It was used in the cathedrals of Canterbury, Durham, Norwich, Chichester and Rochester, in Westminster Abbey and in the Tower of London.
• Later centuries: In England it was also used in buildings such as Eton College, Hatfield House and Oxford Castle. Southern England began importing it in large amounts again in the 19th century, and in the 19th and 20th centuries it was also used in decoration at Cologne Cathedral, in the Royal Palace of Brussels and in American cathedrals.
• Today: It is used to repair historic buildings and for sculpture and carving. Stone for the facade of the Caen Memorial, the city’s peace museum, came from a quarry reopened in 1986.

Where is it found?

Caen stone is quarried in the Calvados department of Normandy, in and around the city of Caen: the main places are the city’s Vaucelles, Saint-Julien and La Maladrerie districts and Mondeville, Bretteville-sur-Odon, Carpiquet, Fleury-sur-Orne and Cintheaux. Underground quarrying developed in the 19th century, but in the 20th century cheaper stone and concrete undermined the trade, and production stopped in the early 1960s. During the Battle of Caen in the summer of 1944, the underground quarries of Caen, Fleury, Mondeville and Colombelles sheltered local people. Quarrying started again in the 1980s; since 2004 the quarry at Cintheaux has been allowed to produce up to 9,000 tonnes of stone a year.