Tower and Town, June 2018

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Editorial: Flint

Under our feet in Marlborough, in thin seams through the chalk, lie layers of flint nodules. How these formed is set out in Richard Clarke's article later. And how they influenced building styles locally is addressed by Chris Rogers. Long before the use of metals - and indeed later - because it could be cloven easily to a sharp edge, it was the way to form cutting tools, arrowheads and the like. Later until the invention of friction matches in the nineteenth century, flint and steel, kept in a tinderbox, was the only way to start a fire, to light a candle or to cook. How hard dark cold mornings must have been!

But flint was also used from the 17th century in flintlocks on firearms, and from the 18th century the similar gunlock was used on naval cannon. These are covered later. Finally flint had industrial uses, both in glazes for ceramics and in high quality glass. This too is explored later.

Alexander Kirk-Wilson