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Cocking Limeworks
The earliest known reference to quarrying at Cocking is from September 1833 when an earthquake caused a rockfall in a chalk pit, killing a certain William Marshall who was working there. Later, in the 1861 Census Return it was reported that
'James Bennett, a tramp, slept in lime kiln.'
By 1874 (the time of the first 25" Ordnance Survey map of the area), lime procuction was concentrated between the site of mediaeval archery ranges called The Butts and a quarry further up the hillside. These two quarries remained the focus of production until the 1990s when all work ceased, with the works coming to occupy the lower quarry adjacent Cocking Hill.
The Cowdray Estate, owner of the quarry and 16,500 acres of the surrounding countryside, towns and villages, granted a lease to Pepper and Sons of Amberley in 1906 for producing industrial grade lime in the two wood-fuelled kilns and a 2' gauge tramway was laid (this remained until 1970). The lease changed hands in 1921 to Frederick Searle and later his brother Eli who went into
partnership with Robert Dunning. Dunning and Searle built six new coal-fired flare kilns in 1926 and made further developments including an aerial ropeway, an overhead crane and the conversion of existing draw kilns to flare kilns in order to produce cleaner lime for the sand-lime brick industry at Midhurst.
In 1938 the works, now consisting of two batteries of kilns, was expanded further and production of agricultural grade lime began at the behest of the Ministry of
Agriculture. The quantity of chalk for brickmaking decreased sharply during the war but generally averaged 3,200 tons p .a., producing some 13 .7 million
bricks. The quantity of chalk used for agricultural grade lime however varied considerably from 8,000 to 32,000 tons p .a., presumably depending on
local demand.
Production of sand-lime bricks ceased in
1985 and in later years manufacture concentrated on Calco, a patented mixture of lime and powdered chalk and plain powdered chalk marketed as
Nurslim for use on gardens and nurseries.
By the end of the 1980s, the works had assumed its present plan; chalk was brought by lorry to the primary crusher and thence onto a conveyor belt into the intermediate crushing and screening plants, after which it was sent to the kilns, fired and milled by the lime crushing plant before being distributed by road.
The final operator, Dudman Chalk & Lime Ltd ceased all operations in 1999 and the site is now derelict.
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SOURCES
Martin, Ron, Cocking Limeworks pp23-31 in Sussex Industrial History No. 33. Brighton: Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society, 2003
Neilson, G., Musson, R. M. W. & Burton, P. W. 1984. Macroseismic Reports on Historical British Earthquakes. London: British Geological Survey, 1984
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