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Alum works at Kimmeridge Bay is a multi-period industrial site located on the Dorset coast, with remains spanning several centuries of commercial exploitation. The site comprises processing structures, storage facilities, and associated coastal infrastructure including jetties and breakwaters that facilitated the extraction and export of alum, a valuable mordant and chemical substance essential to textile and leather industries. The main alum works date from the seventeenth century onwards, with the industry reaching significant scale during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, though earlier medieval alum production may also have occurred at the location. The surviving structures and maritime features represent the physical infrastructure of one of southern England's major industrial enterprises, dependent upon both the mineral resources of the Kimmeridge shale and direct coastal access for commercial distribution.
Alum works, other multi-period industrial remains and an associated group of jetties and breakwaters, Kimmeridge Bay is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1017307. View the official record →
Alum works at Kimmeridge Bay is a multi-period industrial site located on the Dorset coast, with remains spanning several centuries of commercial exploitation. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1017307.
Alum works, other multi-period industrial remains and an associated group of jetties and breakwaters, Kimmeridge Bay is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1017307.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Bowl barrow on Swyre Head (2.5 km), Iron Age settlement and associated field system on Smedmore Hill (2.7 km), Kingston Down Romano-British farm (4.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Alum works, other multi-period industrial remains and an associated group of jetties and breakwaters, Kimmeridge Bay's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Alum works, other multi-period industrial remains and an associated group of jetties and breakwaters, Kimmeridge Bay stands on Late Jurassic claystone, bedrock that formed in the Late Jurassic. The rock here is major:{claystone}, Minor{limestone,sandstone}.