septarian concretions; septarian nodules

The original family who had begun to build a palace to outrival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.

A female wharfinger—a grade of staff peculiar to the Wenford Mineral Line—lives in an adjacent house.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:duck butter.