I've been looking through this site for several years but have not had much chance to get out to see anything or get any reports up. Looking to do a lot of exploring over the next couple of months and am keen to find new places.... So here is my first report....
This place has a few reports on it already, but the most recent seems to be from about a year ago.
History
The earliest known mention of lime workings in the parish of Cocking is in 1715 when Cowdray Estate documents refer to two isolated lime kilns being in use. The chalk pits and lime kilns were leased by the Cowdray Estate to various people over the years. In 1993, the site was acquired by the Dudman Group of Companies who owned it until 1999, when all work ceased at both sites, since when the works have been abandoned.
The earliest chalk pits were dug by hand with the lime kilns close by. As the chalk pits became deeper, workmen would be suspended with ropes from the top of the cliff, breaking the chalk by hand. It was not until the 1940s that explosives were used to break the chalk out of the quarry face. Blasting took place two or three times per week, often on Sunday mornings, and provoked regular complaints from the residents of Cocking village, particularly regarding cracked ceilings and broken windows
Between 1926 and 1938, the company excavated approximately 3,200 tons of chalk annually from the chalk pit, all of which were used for brick production. From 1938 on, the amount of chalk processed increased substantially, reaching a peak of 36,000 tons in 1955 with agricultural lime accounting for all the additional output.
In May 2011 the Cowdray estate applied to convert the site into a landfill site - this was rejected by the council. In 2012 there was talk of them demolishing the buildings and turning the area into a campsite - but this has obviously not been seen through to date.
Explore
We first scoped out the town and the local roads to see how we could gain access to the site - a lovely day in terms of weather so stopped by the local pub for some lunch before our explore. From reading a previous report I knew that security watch the site, so we tried to enter as discreetly as possible to maximise our time there. We walked down the gravel road to the quarry and were just looking at the abandoned digger when we heard the sound of a car driving down the road towards us. We couldn't have been on site for more than 10 mins. Luckily we just sat where we were, slightly obscured by the bushes and brambles. The security car came into the quarry and drove around 1 section before disappearing back up the road. We stayed where we were and about 10 mins later we heard the car drive past us again heading towards the exit. We either had very unfortunate timing and arrived just as security were on their rounds or a local called in our car driving up towards the site. Either way, we managed to continue our explore, so we were happy.
After exploring the quarry sections for a while. We headed towards the lime works section of the site. To gain access to this part there is supposed to be a road that connects to the quarry. We followed this road until it became less like a road/path and more like a dense thorn bush. It would be possible to push your way through this section, but the bushes are VERY overgrown, so I can't imagine it would be too pleasant. We ended up just finding a different way into the lime works which was much easier.
The explore of the lime works was really cool, my favourite explores are the ones where you can really see nature reclaim the land / space around it and that is exactly what this explore was like. The buildings are in a terrible state (staircases falling down, strips of metal hanging down etc...) and there's some relatively new fencing that has gone up to try to keep people out of some of the buildings. There is graffiti scattered around but the site doesn't feel like people frequent it regularly (except for people exploring), probably due to its location being relatively remote aside from the tiny village next door. This is definitely a place I will visit again.
Photos
Quarry Site
Lime Works
This place has a few reports on it already, but the most recent seems to be from about a year ago.
History
The earliest known mention of lime workings in the parish of Cocking is in 1715 when Cowdray Estate documents refer to two isolated lime kilns being in use. The chalk pits and lime kilns were leased by the Cowdray Estate to various people over the years. In 1993, the site was acquired by the Dudman Group of Companies who owned it until 1999, when all work ceased at both sites, since when the works have been abandoned.
The earliest chalk pits were dug by hand with the lime kilns close by. As the chalk pits became deeper, workmen would be suspended with ropes from the top of the cliff, breaking the chalk by hand. It was not until the 1940s that explosives were used to break the chalk out of the quarry face. Blasting took place two or three times per week, often on Sunday mornings, and provoked regular complaints from the residents of Cocking village, particularly regarding cracked ceilings and broken windows
Between 1926 and 1938, the company excavated approximately 3,200 tons of chalk annually from the chalk pit, all of which were used for brick production. From 1938 on, the amount of chalk processed increased substantially, reaching a peak of 36,000 tons in 1955 with agricultural lime accounting for all the additional output.
In May 2011 the Cowdray estate applied to convert the site into a landfill site - this was rejected by the council. In 2012 there was talk of them demolishing the buildings and turning the area into a campsite - but this has obviously not been seen through to date.
Explore
We first scoped out the town and the local roads to see how we could gain access to the site - a lovely day in terms of weather so stopped by the local pub for some lunch before our explore. From reading a previous report I knew that security watch the site, so we tried to enter as discreetly as possible to maximise our time there. We walked down the gravel road to the quarry and were just looking at the abandoned digger when we heard the sound of a car driving down the road towards us. We couldn't have been on site for more than 10 mins. Luckily we just sat where we were, slightly obscured by the bushes and brambles. The security car came into the quarry and drove around 1 section before disappearing back up the road. We stayed where we were and about 10 mins later we heard the car drive past us again heading towards the exit. We either had very unfortunate timing and arrived just as security were on their rounds or a local called in our car driving up towards the site. Either way, we managed to continue our explore, so we were happy.
After exploring the quarry sections for a while. We headed towards the lime works section of the site. To gain access to this part there is supposed to be a road that connects to the quarry. We followed this road until it became less like a road/path and more like a dense thorn bush. It would be possible to push your way through this section, but the bushes are VERY overgrown, so I can't imagine it would be too pleasant. We ended up just finding a different way into the lime works which was much easier.
The explore of the lime works was really cool, my favourite explores are the ones where you can really see nature reclaim the land / space around it and that is exactly what this explore was like. The buildings are in a terrible state (staircases falling down, strips of metal hanging down etc...) and there's some relatively new fencing that has gone up to try to keep people out of some of the buildings. There is graffiti scattered around but the site doesn't feel like people frequent it regularly (except for people exploring), probably due to its location being relatively remote aside from the tiny village next door. This is definitely a place I will visit again.
Photos
Quarry Site
Lime Works
