Present Day
As the material is not in regular supply, much restoration of earlier Sussex Marble work takes place using Purbeck Marble, which is considered a more stable stone. An example of this practice occurred as early as 1870, when the font at St Margaret's Church in West Hoathly had to be restored but the original Sussex Marble, quarried in Petworth, had run out.
The industry and workings are long gone although small new rural development around the Surrey/Sussex border occasionally brings up new seams of the stone. The qualities of the material are being rediscovered through British sculptors like Jon Edgar who, after a gap of nearly 200 years, are having to re-discover the ways of working it, its strengths and weaknesses.
Read more about this topic: Sussex Marble
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