Portland stone

English

Noun

Portland stone (usually uncountable, plural Portland stones)

  1. A limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period, quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, and used extensively for building in the British Isles.
    St Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace were built with Portland stone.
    • 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 85:
      I wandered across to the window and looked out. Quite consciously I began saying good-bye to it all. The sun was low. Towers, spires, and façades of Portland stone were white or pink against the dimming sky.
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