Hard rock and hard water episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 14, 2026 · 14 MIN

Hard rock and hard water

from reading rocks · host Ian Jackson

Send us Fan MailAll of these podcasts are geological but this episode is three-quarters pure rock. First the plan is to look closely at the rock that provided the mortar for the wall – limestone – did the Romans use it to sweeten these northern soils too – they can be pretty acid. Next its more whin Sill – I am starting to wonder if there’s too much on this rock already, but it does play a huge role in the landscape and on Roman plans and they say you can’t get enough of a good thing. The Whin has a part to play in a trip to Coventinas Well too, but a subtle part. And finally we are off in search of a very modern rock – one that starts soft and goes hard and one the Romans had a very special job for. 

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Mar 14, 2026

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Hard rock and hard water

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