Cocking Lime Works
| Cocking Lime Works | |
| Traded as | Midhurst Whites |
| Industry | Chalk quarrying and lime production |
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Cocking, West Sussex, England 50°56′49″N 0°45′08″W / 50.94695°N 0.75230°WCoordinates: 50°56′49″N 0°45′08″W / 50.94695°N 0.75230°W |
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Key people
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Benjamin Cloke |
Cocking Lime Works and its associated chalk quarry are abandoned industrial sites in the South Downs of England. They are situated to the south of the village of Cocking, West Sussex, close to the South Downs Way. The works are on land owned by the Cowdray Estate and are not open to the public. Cocking was the source of lime used for the manufacture of Midhurst White bricks and for agricultural purposes.
The lime kilns are situated beside the A286 about 0.5 km (0.3 mi) south of the village of Cocking. They are located in a small chalk pit, now heavily overgrown, at grid reference SU87751715 and occupy a site of approximately 3 ha (7 acres). This area is known as "The Butts", having been used for archery practice in the 12th century.
The chalk quarry is situated about 500 m (1,640 ft) south-east at grid reference SU88251677 just to the south of Sun Combe, at an elevation about 80 m (260 ft) above the site of the kilns, and cover an area of approximately 6 ha (15 acres). The two sites are linked by an embanked roadway, built in 1962 to allow lorries to transport chalk direct from the quarry to the kilns.
The earliest known mention of lime workings in the parish of Cocking is in 1715, when Cowdray Estate documents refer to two isolated lime kilns being in use.
A map of the Cowdray Estate from 1768 shows a chalk pit on Cocking Hill, while the tithe map of 1842 shows the chalk pit as being assigned to Rev. Thomas Valentine, the incumbent at Cocking church. In 1830, the estate map showed further lime kilns at Wolverstone Farm, at the southern edge of the parish.
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Wikipedia