Emeritus Professor in Geology and former Principal of Farnborough College of Technology, Hampshire
Publications
Church building fabrics on Romney Marsh and the Marshland Fringe: a geological perspective, by Andrew Pearson and John F. Potter, published 2002 in Landscape History, the journal of the Society for Landscape Studies (vol. 24, issue 1, article, pp.89-110) View Online
Abstract:Romney Marsh is a region where few historic buildings now remain in the modern landscape. This paper examines the only group of historic monuments on the marsh in which stone was the principal medium, and where it was employed on a major scale - the parish church.
A fieldwork programme determined the types of stone present in eighteen churches on Romney and Walland Marsh, and a further eighteen in the immediate upland hinterland. The objectives of the study were to establish the types and provenance of the principal stones used in church building in the region, and using these data to examine the pattern of historic quarrying and supply from the Anglo-Saxon period to later medieval times.
Building stone supply was shown to vary according to several factors, including the geographical location of each building site, the date of construction, and the relation to known or surmised communication routes. The study pointed to an increasingly sophisticated quarrying industry, relying initially mainly on opportunist collection of beach boulders up to the thirteenth century, before sources of hewn stone for ashlar began to be increasingly exploited. The coast was the major resource at all times, and it is tentatively suggested that the removal of foreshore stone contributed to long-shore drift, and thus indirectly to dramatic coastal changes in the region. Most material was of local origin, although rare, high quality imports were also utilised.
A fieldwork programme determined the types of stone present in eighteen churches on Romney and Walland Marsh, and a further eighteen in the immediate upland hinterland. The objectives of the study were to establish the types and provenance of the principal stones used in church building in the region, and using these data to examine the pattern of historic quarrying and supply from the Anglo-Saxon period to later medieval times.
Building stone supply was shown to vary according to several factors, including the geographical location of each building site, the date of construction, and the relation to known or surmised communication routes. The study pointed to an increasingly sophisticated quarrying industry, relying initially mainly on opportunist collection of beach boulders up to the thirteenth century, before sources of hewn stone for ashlar began to be increasingly exploited. The coast was the major resource at all times, and it is tentatively suggested that the removal of foreshore stone contributed to long-shore drift, and thus indirectly to dramatic coastal changes in the region. Most material was of local origin, although rare, high quality imports were also utilised.
A review of some early West Sussex churches, by John F. Potter, published 2007 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 145, article, pp.81-96) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15980] & The Keep [LIB/500363] & S.A.S. library View Online
Abstract:With the objective of illustrating the importance of observing and correctly identifying the stone bedding orientation in the structural aspects of the stonework of early churches, nine West Sussex churches are described. These descriptions reveal especially the distinctive styles of Anglo-Saxon workmanship. In particular, ashlar stones emplaced with the orientation of their bedding vertical typically indicate Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship. Correct stone identification is also shown to assist significantly in determining the probable age of different church wall fabrics.
West Chiltington church: structure and wall paintings, by Robin Milner-Gulland, John F. Potter and Pamela Tudor-Craig, published 2016 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 154, article, pp.169-193) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18939] & The Keep [LIB/509465] & S.A.S. library