Figure of the Martyr
BISHOP RIDLEY
on the Oxford Memorial.
Unsuitable early repairs with cement have caused serious degradation of
the underlying Caen stone.

In his “Personal and Professional Recollections”, Scott gave a revealing account of the ‘expertise’ of the famous Dr. Buckland, ‘geologist and Dean of Westminster’.

'An amusing incident occurred at, I believe, my first interview with the [Martyrs' Memorial] Committee. I found them in disagreement as to the best stone for the monument. The commissioners for selecting the stone for the Houses of Parliament had not long before made their report in favour of the purely mythical Bolsover Moor. One party favoured this imaginary stone, for its warm colour: another, the white variety of magnesian limestone from Roche Abbey, on account of its fine grain. I ventured the suggestion that, by visiting the district, it might be possible to find a stone uniting the qualities, when Dr. Buckland snubbed me with great scorn, saying that such a suggestion may have been made in years gone by, when little was known of the geological productions of the country, but that now, when every variety of stone was so well known, it was hopeless to look for new ones. I happened, however, though without scientific knowledge, to have nearly as practical an acquaintance with stone quarries as Dr. Buckland and I did not see the force of the argument. I therefore started off with Moffatt [his then partner] for the magnesio-calcareous district. The first quarry we went to was that at Mansfield Woodhouse, which, on the discovery of the Bolsover delusion, had been reopened for the Houses of Parliament; this stone did not meet my wishes, being too coarse in grain, and not pure enough in colour. On describing, however, to the foreman of the quarry what I was seeking for, he at once told me he could show me what I wanted; and, taking a hammer and walking with us across a few fields, he brought us to an ancient and long-disused quarry, grown over with brushwood, and, on striking off a fragment of the rock, presented to me the very stone which my imagination had pourtrayed [sic]! My delight was excessive. The committee at once, though at great increase of cost, adopted it and in the next report attributed the happy discovery to the pre-eminent geological skill of Dr. Buckland.