Aspley Guise
Fuller's Earth Workings
Places > Aspley Guise > Geography and Geology
Fuller's Earth is the common name for calcium montmorillonite clay. In the UK there are limited deposits occurring irregularly in the cretaceous lower greensands of Bedfordshire, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire and in the Jurassic series near Bath.
In Bedfordshire Fuller's Earth is extracted around Aspley Guise and Aspley Heath and on the greensand ridge south of Clophill.
The name is derived from its first use for fulling. Fulling is the cleansing of wool after it has been woven. Fuller's Earth acts as a detergent to remove dirt and grease from the cloth.
The first documentary evidence for its digging in Bedfordshire occurs in 1536 for a lease of land in Aspley Guise. By the 1690s the industry was becoming important locally and Woburn became an important centre for the trade.
Fuller's Earth was dug until the early 1890s by sinking an 'earth-well' up to 60-70 ft deep into the ground. The Fuller's Earth was then extracted by working outwards from the bottom of the shaft, to form a well in the shape of a bell. This was a very dangerous method of extraction as the earth-wells were usually unprotected by masonry or brickwork.
During the mid 1800s attempts were made at large scale production but this did not really take place until after the second world war.
Sources
- A history of our district by the Scholars of Fulbrook Secondary School, 1962
- Cleansing earth by Edgar Lovatt, Bedfordshire Magazine Vol. 3, p. 223
- Fuller's Earth working in Bedfordshire by Alan Cox, Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol. 17, No. 131
Fuller's Earth workings by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2006
Page last updated: 21st January 2014