Cotham Marble

On cut and polished faces the stone has the appearance of a landscape, complete with ploughed fields, trees, and hedges.

[1] The marble is widely but patchily developed within the Cotham Member in its outcrop that extends from Glamorgan in South Wales, through the Bristol area to the coast of southeast Devon.

The 'trees', arborescent structures, extend upwards from the hedge and are relatively constant in height at about 4–5 cm, although somewhat shorter near the lens edges.

The earliest explanations were all inorganic, including evaporitic deposition and the effect of gas bubbles rising through the sediment.

[3] The marble is too soft for external use and has been mainly used to produce ornaments for display and as inlay in furnishings, such as tables and chimney pieces.