A HISTORY OF SURREY 



prietor at that time in the county of the fullers' 

 earth pits, Mr. Edward Russell, of Holland 

 House, Nuffield.' Outside Surrey the earth 

 has been found to a considerable extent near 

 Woburn in Bedfordshire, and beds also exist 

 in Kent, Nottinghamshire and a few other 

 counties. 



It is only permissible to suggest that the 

 knowledge of the properties of this valuable 

 earth to be found within the county, combined 

 with the fact that wool in plenty could be 

 obtained from the extensive sheepwalks on the 

 North Downs, promoted the early origin of 

 the important cloth industry of Guildford and 

 south-west Surrey ; for of definite information 

 that the Surrey pits were worked at an early 

 date we have none that is of value. Aubrey 

 refers to the large quantities of fullers' earth 

 to be found at Reigate and Nutfield, and states 

 that it was sold at jfd. the sack, or 6s. the 

 load.* In 1730 we are told that notwith- 

 standing the prohibition by law of its export, 

 private advantage outbalanced all hazards, so 

 much so that Holland had almost as great 

 plenty of the earth as England.' 



Malcolm estimated the annual consumption 

 of the kingdom in 1805 of fullers' earth at 

 about 6,300 tons, of which he supposed that 

 4,000 tons were sent from Surrey.* The 

 most valuable earth came from the pit of Mr. 

 Dann in Nutfield, but the principal Surrey 

 proprietor then was the Mr. Edward Russell 

 before mentioned. The demand for the Surrey 

 earth had been lately decreasing, owing to the 

 opening of a pit at Maidstone some three or 

 four years earlier.* 



In 1809 the oldest pit then worked was 

 said to have lasted between fifty and sixty 

 years, but was fast wearing out. The earth 

 dug in Surrey was of two qualities, the yellow 

 and blue, the former being the better and 

 employed in fulling the kerseymeres and finer 

 cloths of Wilts and Gloucestershire, whilst the 

 blue earth was principally sent into Yorkshire 

 for the preparation of the coarser cloths made 

 in that county. The price at the pits ror 

 either kind was 6j. the ton.' 



Manning and Bray detail the various strata 

 which had to be cut through before the fullers' 

 earth was found.'' Speaking of the pits at 

 Nutfield, where they say the earth was found 



' Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surrey, ii. 266. 

 2 Nat. Hist, and Antiquities of Surrey, iv. 214, 



237- 



» Maffia Brit. (ed. Cox, 1730), v. 441. 



• Compendium of Modem Husbandry, i. 45. 

 = Ibid. 46. 



• W. Stevenson, Genera/ Hew of the Agriculture 

 of Surrey (1809), 50, 51. 



" Hist, of Surrey, ii. 266. 



in greater quantity and or a better quality 

 than in any other part of England, they 

 describe them as on the top and both sides of 

 the ridge of sandy loam running from Blech- 

 ingley to Redstone Hill in the road towards 

 Reigate. The top of the hill was chiefly 

 covered with wood. Under the top soil was 

 a stratum of a soft sandy stone or loose crum- 

 bling gravel from 3 to 5 feet ; then a stratum 

 of sandstone of 5 or 6 feet, but of little use ; 

 below a vein of about 2 feet of small fullers' 

 earth and dirt mixed, not of a quality to be 

 used ; then another stratum of sandstone 

 from 6 to 8 feet, some of which was used in 

 foundations and the inner walls of buildings, 

 and some for the repair of highways. Under 

 all this was the real fullers' earth, from 4 to 

 12 or 14 feet deep. The earth was taken 

 out of the pits in massy substances resembling 

 stones of from one pound to a hundredweight 

 and upwards. Some of the earth was of a 

 yellow, some of a reddish-brown and blue 

 colour. The depth however, and the various 

 strata above the earth, varied so much that no 

 one pit exactly corresponded with another, 

 nor was the earth in the same pits always of 

 an equality. 



At this date (18 14) there were only three 

 pits open in Nutfield and one in Reigate. 

 The latter had been recently opened in Copy- 

 hold farm in that parish by a Mr. Morris, 

 and the Nutfield pits were owned by Mr. 

 Russell and others. No more than ten or 

 twelve men were generally employed in the 

 whole of these pits, but the quantity annually 

 taken from them was between 2,000 and 

 3,000 tons. The carriage to London was 

 i8j. to 20J. the ton, and the earth was gener- 

 ally sold at the wharves in Tooley Street from 

 24J. to 261. the ton. A considerable quantity 

 was then carried by the iron railway from 

 Merstham to Croydon, and from thence to 

 London either by water along the Croydon 

 Canal or by the iron railway to Wandsworth, 

 where it could be shipped on to the Thames. 

 It is stated, however, that this method of 

 carriage by railway had not up to that time 

 been proved much, if at all, less expensive 

 than the old method by the common carriers. 

 Fullers' earth required no other preparation 

 to fit it for the market than the removal from 

 it of every appearance of rust ; but it was 

 thoroughly dried by the fullers and ground in 

 a mill to a fine powder before it could be 

 applied to the cloth.* To some extent it is 

 still in demand in the woollen manufacture, 

 but its use in this respect has very greatly 



8 Malcolm, Compendium of Modern Husbandry, 

 46. 



280 



