Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A lime kiln at Cliffe, thought to date from the 19th century. Made from red bricks, apparently 'wasters' from a nearby brickfield which had provided a cheap building material. The kiln was out of use by 1900 and a local resident recalled that it was inhabited between 1900 and 1910! Also thought to have been used by the Home Guard as a bunker during the Second World War.

Monument Types

• LIME KILN (Post Medieval - 1800 AD? to 1900 AD?)

Full description

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This lime kiln at Cliffe (Grid Reference TQ 733 768) is set into a chalk bank at the foot of the cliff that runs westward from the village. The construction is of red bricks, many of which were broken and of irregular shape. The bricks would appear to have been `wasters' from one of the not too distant brickfields, which were damaged or overfired in the burning process in the clamp, and which provided a cheap building material. Although there is no documentary record of the kiln as yet found, it was probably built in the middle of the nineteenth century, most likely by the tenant of the farm on which it stands. The kiln was out of use by 1900; Mrs. Hoare who lives nearby remembers a Mr. Toply living in the kiln between approximately 1900 and 1910. its last use was probably by the Home Guard as a bunker during the Second World War. (1). Site photographs (2,3).

<1> Kent Arch Rev 68 1982 192-3 illust (D Bacchus) (OS Card Reference). SKE45806.

<2> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9448.

<3> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9777.

Sources and further reading