ABSTRACT
The Roman engineer Vitruvius in his treatise De Architectura probably records the first formal recognition of the influence of marine salts on rock breakdown (Schaffer, 1932):
More recently, the weathering response of natural stone building materials comprising historic structures in coastal environments, has provided an
opportunity to investigate the effects of local weathering patterns (Mottershead, 1994, 1997; Takahashi et al.,1994). Robinson and Williams (1996, 1999) and Williams and Robinson (2000) adopted a similar strategy in an inland rural environment and Halsey et al. (1996) in urban environments. Thus historic structures may be considered as stone durability trials, as previously recorded by a number of authors (Grisez, 1960; Mottershead, 2000; Pye and Mottershead, 1995; Sharp et al., 1982; Viles, 1993a, b; Viles and Goudie, 1992).
