Kimmeridge has long been an Industrial village. Kimmeridge Shale was first exploited during the Bronze Age (2,000-700 BC) Kimmeridge shale found only near sea-level at Kimmeridge and Brandy Bays also know as `Blackstone' was used in Iron Age. The Romans mined the bituminous oil shale from the geologically active cliffs and polished it to make jewelry and ornaments. The jewelry included bracelets and these were made on a lathe. The waste from the centre of the disc was thrown away and this gave rise to the wrong theory that the shale was used to produce a local form of currency - "Kimmeridge Pennies". 1560s. Lord Mountjoy discovered that the land at Kimmeridge was 'full of allom myne' and he obtained a patent to make alum there ('myne' means ore not mine). Mountjoy's plan was unsuccessful. Around 1600. Sir William Clavell, owner of Kimmeridge, took up alum manufacture. When the process was perfected the alum works were seized by London merchants who had King James 1' sole patent for making alum. 1617. Abraham Bigo with Clavell used oil shale to make green drinking glass at a glass-house just north of the fishermen's huts. Royalties were unpaid and later Clavell went to prison. He had large losses and died in 1644. 1620. - Sir William Clavell built a pier 100 feet long in imitation of the Cobb at Lyme Regis. It was destroyed by storm in 1745. Some remains are still visible. 1848. Bituminous Shale Company built a tramway and worked oil shale. This was used for production at Weymouth of varnish, grease, pitch, naptha, dyes, wax, fertiliser and other by-products. In 1854 the Weymouth factory was condemned as a public nuisance because of the smell and the company went into liquidation. 1848. Wanostrocht and Company used Kimmeridge oil shale to light the streets of Wareham with 130 gas lamps. There was building of a new works near the Wareham railway station in 1852. 1855-1858. Ferguson and Muschamp established an oil shale plant at the site that later became the Wareham pottery works, but it closed in three years. 1858. Wanostrocht and Company reopened the Wareham shale plant. Fifty tons of shale oil were produced there each month and there was a contract to light the streets of Paris with gas from this product. It is said that Parisians could not stand its foul smell when burning. 1862. Wanostrocht and Company were struggling and taken over by the new Wareham Oil and Candle Company. The works were southwest of the railway station. 1871. West of England Fireclay Bitumen and Chemical Company was incorporated. Ten thousand tons of Kimmeridge shale were to be processed annually at Calstock, Cornwall. It went into liquidation in 1876. 1872. Works of the Wareham Oil and Candle Company were burnt down and the firm closed. 1876. West of England Chemical Company went into liquidation. 1876. Sanitary Carbon Company at Wareham was established to convert shales into a coke that could filter sewage. The company later became the Kimmeridge Oil and Carbon Company. 1883. A longer tramway was constructed at Kimmeridge. The Manfield Shaft mine was dug. By 1890. Four main levels or adits had been dug, two of these coming from the mining ledge at Clavell's Hard. Galleries branched off. No. 5 level was marked out for cutting. There were 5,000 feet of tunnels. Late 1890s. Oil shale mining came to an end. 2010. One of the mine tubs left in the tunnels becomes exposed on the cliff face. Click here for story Below is an extract from the Mineral Statistics for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland issued in 1860 Kimmeridge Clay or
Shale The sands
which underlie the Portland Stone of Dorsetshire, and the south-west of
The shipments of this substance
from Vessel Tons Perseverance,
via According to Dr. Hofmann, the Kimmeridge clay, when distilled at a high temperature, yielded –
Olefiant
gas and congeners
10.0
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