Kent is undoubtedly one of the most priveleged counties in England for it’s diversity of geology and landscapes of which our ‘Kent Downs’ is but one of a veritable mix. Marshland, woods, chalk downland, heath, coast, estuaries and river floodplains can all be found within easy reach. Much of this, of course, is attributable to the rich geology which the county boasts and ever since Neolithic times man has been quick to take advantage of the products that can be quarried and ‘won’ from this rich resource. Ragstone, iron, coal, chalk, clay and flint have all contributed in the past in varying degrees to the economy of the county. No prizes then for guessing the number one resource of the Kent Downs … Chalk ! Writing at the turn of the last century a historian wrote ‘Kent is by far the most important chalk yielding county in the kingdom, many of the quarries producing more than 100,000 tonnes annually.

Once a commonplace activity the quarrying of chalk would have provided an essential material for a range of everyday uses including brickmaking, ‘manuring ’fields and building houses. With the invent of modern technology and alternative products in the last century, the former quarrying industry is all but confined to the production of cement of which a few open cast pits exist in the county. Nevertheless, with a little bit of detective work the landscape offers perhaps more clues to the significance of this former industry than you might think. Take a trip in the Kent Downs and sooner or later you’ll pass long forgotten open chalk pits, now often overgrown with vegetation but many still exhibiting an exposed face of chalk from which the rock would have been quarried. Today these pits provide important habitat for a range of chalk downland plants which thrive on shelves and rubble areas on the exposed chalk faces. Plants such as kidney vetch, mouse ear hawkeed can often be found in these places.

Many of these pits are located near farms and settlements where one principal use of the chalk was for the production of lime which was used to ‘fertilise’ or ‘lighten’ heavier clay soils and also to improve drainage and make it more easy to cultivate. An account of agriculture in the 17th century records ‘In Otterden we usually swime our wheat in brine and then lime it before we sow it……. to protect it from ‘coller’ and worms.’

Chalk in its ‘pre burnt state’ would also have been added to the soil and laid for several months or longer to allow the weather to dissolve the lumps. According to a 17th century farmer ‘ you chalke your ground and let it ly a year or two which is the way used in Kent ; that it may be matured and shattered by sun and raine, otherwise, if it be turned in presently, it is apt to ly in great clods.’

The process of making lime was simply to burn blocks of quarried chalk, usually in specially constructed kilns. The resultant lime was then simply spread direct on to fields where it could be absorbed by the soil. If ‘water was added (known as ‘slaking’) the lime would then be mixed with sand to be used as mortar for building. The most common type of kiln , the flare kiln, consisted of a brick lined ‘pot’ or chimney sunk some 6 – 8 m into a bank , narrowing at the bottom to a ‘drawhole’. Usually fed with alternating layers of fuel (bundles of coppiced wood known as faggots) the chalk would be poured into the ‘pot’ and once burnt the resulting lime would be drawn from the bottom via arched brick- lined cavities and then loaded into carts. Lime would have then been used to ‘dress’on the fields in the neighbourhood or often would be transported down in to the weald and sold for use on the heavier clay soils. A traders account for 24 September 1624 reads
Nicholas Toke of Godinton in Great Chart payd Faierbeard of Kennington for digginge 38 loades of chalke at Beamestone downe (in Westwell) which I brought to my kell (kiln).
Lime burners fortunate to have kilns near their pits or quarries might have supplied a large number of customers on the sandier and clay soils of the Low Weald.

Many limekilns date back to the 18th and 19th centuries when the demand for mortar for building houses increased significantly. Although many of these kilns have now disappeared, evidence to their existence can often be found in field names. For example ‘kiln field’ on 19th century tithe maps clearly denotes their existence. An example of a kiln in a good state of preservation can be found at ‘Charing Beech Hangers’ Wood near Westwell, Ashford where 2 kilns can still be seen on the edge of the wood. An example of a road side chalk pit can be found just outside the village at Elham. Take the lane known as ‘Duck Street’ which runs eastwards out of the back of the village square. As you begin to climb out of the valley the pit can be found on the right hand side of the lane. Outstanding views of the Elham Valley can be gained if you continue travelling up the lane. Please remember that quarries and pits can be hazardous places and take care not to climb on the steep banks.

Dan Tuson