Section 2 of 4
Cut & Carriage
Blocks were squared at the face so nothing unnecessary was carried, loaded onto flat-bottomed barges, and taken down the Dordogne on the ebb. The same bed that cuts like cheese underground hardens into the quays and façades of Bordeaux — and then weathers, in a city, on somebody else’s wall.
- Downriver to build a cityBlocks cut here went down the Dordogne and Garonne to face the quays and facades of Bordeaux. Water carriage is why the quarry is where it is.
- Cutting to sizeSawn square at the face so nothing unnecessary was carried.
- The flat-bottomed bargeA shallow river boat built for stone and tide.
- Soft then hardThe stone cuts easily when freshly quarried and hardens on exposure.
- Weathering in a facadeHow the same bed behaves once it is a wall in a city.