Abstract The Lede stone (Lutetian, Eocene) is an important historic building stone used in the NW of Belgium. In Ghent, it is dominant in the post-Romanesque built cultural heritage. Its use was restricted several times by socio-economic constraints. Since quarrying and production started to cease from the seventeenth century, periodic revivals favoured the use of Lede stone for new buildings and restoration projects. Sulphation is the main threat for the Lede stone as black crusts are the most common degradation phenomena on this arenaceous limestone. Around the turn of the nineteenth century, the Belgian Gobertange stone was the most widely used replacement material. Throughout the twentieth century, the use of replacement material shifted towards French limestones. However, their colour, texture and petrophysical properties differ from the Lede stone, for which a natural yellow–brown patina is very characteristic. In order to solve this mainly aesthetic issue, several new stone types are used as replacement stone in the twenty-first century, while many others have been suggested. It remains, however, difficult to find a replacement stone that matches the visual and petrophysical properties of the Lede stone. One remaining Lede stone quarry pit has increased its activity since 2011, offering the opportunity to use new Lede stone as replacement stone.

Abstract The Hampshire Basin was first characterized by Prestwich (1847a, b) as a tectonic/depositional feature (as the ‘Isle of Wight Basin ’). It is an east-west-orientated, broadly synclinal but asymmetrical structure, within which are smaller similarly orientated folds, preserving up to 800 m of Paleogene strata. It extends from southern England into the eastern English Channel (Figs 42, 135 & 136). It is limited in the south by the steep, en echelon monoclinal Purbeck 2 Isle of Wight folds. Upper Paleocene-lowest Oligocene strata are represented. Upper Eocene and Early Oligocene strata are preserved only in the northern half of the Isle of Wight and adjacent areas of SW Hampshire. The coastal cliff and foreshore exposures in the Hampshire Basin, particularly in the Isle of Wight, are the most extensive Paleogene sections in NW Europe, and have been studied since the late eighteenth century. Many other exposures and boreholes, including deep holes drilled for petroleum exploration, have contributed to the database. Recent remapping of large areas by the British Geological Survey (BGS), including several deep cored boreholes, has enabled a comprehensive revised stratigraphic framework for much of the succession (Edwards & Freshney 1987a, b; Insole & Daley 1985; Daley 1999; Daley & Balson 1999; King 2006).