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stonework in the cemeteries. This year such equipment was installed at Perth War Cemetery, Australia and, as a result, it has been possible off the red iron oxide staining, which had affected the sandstone ments and the granite headstones.
Structural Maintenance
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The staining of stone has also been a problem in Terlincthun British Cemetery, France, but this has been caused by atmospheric pollution rather than water-borne contaminants. The only type of stone to be affected has been the Botticino limestone from northern Italy, which the Commission has been using widely since the mid 1960s to replace Portland stone. At that time, supplies of good quality Portland stone began to diminish and prices rose unacceptably. Botticino performs very well in saline conditions, is plentiful and competitively priced. Its near marble hardness makes carving and engraving more laborious than that of Portland but its main drawback is that it is often heavily veined and in northern European climates with regular freeze/thaw cycles these veins can become vulnerable fissures.
Over the last three years quarrymasters on Portland Bill have begun to develop new strata, using improved methods of extraction, which make Portland headstones an economic proposition again for places like Terlincthun and for certain plots in the United Kingdom where the use of indigenous stone is an important aesthetic consideration. In Egypt and other north African countries, by contrast, the use of Botticino is increasing as the reinforced simulated stone headstones originally erected there are beginning to disintegrate at a rapid rate; in some cases the damage occurs overnight and without warning. Several types of sandstone were used extensively in parts of the United Kingdom after the First World War, where they harmonised well with existing memorials in cemeteries. The most common of those used in the Commission's work was Stancliffe stone. Although it is a good durable stone, it readily absorbs atmospheric pollution and, over the years, headstones, screen wall memorials and other features have become badly discoloured. The Commission has recently undertaken a programme of deep-cleaning these stones, mostly under contract. It will take several years before all the affected stone is treated. The improvement in atmospheric conditions in industrial cities in recent years should ensure that further cleaning will not be necessary for very many years.
Despite the Commission's best attempts to prolong the active life of headstones by cleaning, repairing and re-engraving, there is a constant demand for new headstones to replace those which are structurally unsound, to mark graves which were once marked by private memorials and to provide entirely new grave markers when remains are discovered. Over 4,000 new headstones have been produced during the year under review, and a further 3,500 have been re-engraved on site.
Mention has already been made of cemetery perimeter fences, which have been erected to keep animals out of cemeteries, but in certain places it has become necessary to take more substantial measures to encourage use of proper entrances and keep out people whose motives are inappropriate. At Lae War Cemetery, in Papua New Guinea, a two meter-high fence around the perimeter has been completed this year, and now all three major war cemeteries in the country are completely enclosed with fencing. In Egypt, several of the cemetries were originally in quiet rural or desert areas, where post and wire fences adequately marked their boundaries; but
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