Cardinal Hume Memorial

The new memorial to Cardinal Basil Hume, formerly head of the Roman Catholics in England, is in St Gregory\'s Chapel at Westminster Cathedral, London. The Cathedral wanted the stones in the memorial to match the existing floor, even though some of them are no longer produced.

They turned for help to McMarmilloyd, the Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, company that specialises in sourcing rare and antique stones. They were not disappointed. Ian Macdonald of McMarmilloyd managed to find Verde Cesana Classico and Straw Siena, neither of which are generally available any more, as well as first selection Belgium Black and Aqua Bianco. The horizontal feature band in the picture was part of the original floor laid 100 years ago while the feature strip around the cover slab is the \'new\' material sourced by Ian Macdonald.

The architect was Michael Drury of St Anne\'s Gate Architects, Salisbury, the masonry companies involved were Marblecraft of Aldershot and Mander & Germain in Wandsworth. The carving is by Ken Thompson of Bally Trasna.