The History of Fuller’s Earth Workings around Woburn Sands

In Early Cretaceous times (c. 113 million years ago), this area lay on the margin of a shallow seaway, in which the originally green sandstones of the Woburn Sands Formation were deposited. Now weathering orange-red at the surface, their strata form the ‘Greensand Escarpment’ that rises to the south of the town. Within these beds are discrete layers of a pale clay known as ‘fuller’s earth’, formed by weathering of volcanic ash that had accumulated in depressions on the shallow seafloor.
This clay was used historically for ‘fulling’ (de-greasing) wool and was of considerable importance in the medieval economy. More recently it has been used variously as a bonding agent for foundry sands, drilling-mud, cat-litter and cosmetics. It has been excavated locally since at least the 13th C (and possibly in Roman times) – initially by digging at outcrop, but later by mining in the 19th C and from opencast pits in the 20th C. Historical records of such extraction are good from the late 19th C, but are more limited for the earlier, smaller-scale workings, some of which appear only as stylised ‘pitts’ shown in old maps. For the majority of older workings minor topographical features are the only remaining evidence.
The trail focuses on such remaining topographical clues, both for the older workings and the more recent back-filled opencast pits, emphasizing the idea of ‘reading the landscape’ in order to understand the historical relationship beween geology & human activity.

Timings & Tours

Sunday 21 September:

1000-1300 (with optional extension 1400-1700)

Location & directions

Barn at Edgewick Farm, Woodland Way, Woburn Sands, MIlton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK17 8QL

Directions:

Meet outside the barn at Edgewick Farm on Woodland Way (track leading off The Leys, at SW corner of Woburn Sands). Limited off-road parking is available here, otherwise on nearby roads.

Contact on day:

Peter Skelton

Telephone number:

+447794107538

Booking information

Pre-booking requirement:

Pre-booking required

Booking conditions:

Please call or email Woburn Sands Town Council offices

Booking telephone number:

+441908585368

Booking email:

[email protected]

Accessibility details

his is a 3 mile walk (+ optional extension of 3 miles) on uneven countryside and public footpaths through fields and woods, including a few short moderately steep slopes. It is therefore only suitable for those used to walking in such terrain without difficulty.

Additional information

Max no of people per tour:

25

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