{"id":341,"date":"2017-01-30T13:21:25","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T13:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetforyou.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=341"},"modified":"2018-05-10T10:06:32","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T10:06:32","slug":"a-special-shipment-of-portland-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2017\/01\/30\/a-special-shipment-of-portland-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"A special shipment of Portland stone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Archives Project Technician, Amber, continues her journey into the Herbert Photographic Collection. She discovers the surprisingly labour-intensive processes behind transporting Portland limestone off the island in the 1960s (reference: D-HBT\/5275).<\/p>\n

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\"Blocks
Blocks of Portland limestone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, the process of moving, lifting and carrying quarried stone is a relatively simple affair: forklifts, conveyors and front end loaders make easy work of such things.\u00a0Back in 1965 on the Isle of Portland, however, the process was a good deal more demanding.<\/p>\n

A largely manual process<\/h2>\n

Firstly, workmen would construct a wooden cage support structure about the sides and circumference of the stone.<\/p>\n

\"Wooden
Wooden cage support structure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next commenced the Herculean task of rolling the block across craggy open land towards one of the manually operated cranes that stand sentry about Portland’s coastline, a mere stone’s throw from the sea.<\/p>\n