The best stone, the Whitbed, lay many feet down beneath topsoil, spoil, Cap (a strata of hard stone not much used for building) and Roach (another strata containing a mass of fossilised shells). All this had to be removed by hand or with the aid of explosives and hand cranes. The latter were introduced in about 1820 and before that the only mechanical assistance available to the gangs were Portland Jacks. The rubble removed was used to build platforms for the crane and the Whitbed blocks as they were extracted.

The Whitbed strata lay on thin beds of shells and had natural fissures or joints. Using wedges large blocks of up to 100 tons were prized loose and lifted sufficiently to split vertically, again using wedges, or more latterly hydraulic and electric drills, into more manageable pieces. Once lifted the blocks were roughly squared with the use of "kivels", axe-like sledges weighing between 7 and 18 pounds.