Amberley museum tour

On a rainy Sunday morning (June 12th) a cheery group of Worthing Archaeological Society members met in the car park at Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre for an organised tour of the Amberley Lime Kilns and a Chalk to Lime talk.
This visit was a follow-up from the 2 -year project and excavation of the Lime Kiln site in Lambleys Lane and the subsequent report and illustrated lecture delivered by Connie, Liz and Theresa in April.

19 members of the society were met in the car park by Chris Kirk our guide

The Chalk to Lime tour and talk was given by dedicated and knowledgeable volunteer Chris Kirk. He set the scene by telling us about the history of lime in Amberley and how the site used to be a successful chalk quarry and lime works which could have been used in Roman times for the production of mortar. He told us that there was evidence of lime production from the 12th century and early limekiln structures from the 16th century.

Chris explained that the limekilns that survive as brick-built structures at Amberley date from the 18th and the early 19th century and that the earliest were situated in the Grey Pit, with later kilns using chalk from the White Pit.

The first sets of restored kilns inside the museum are the No 1 and No 2 bottle kilns which were built in the late 1800s to burn lime from the white pit. They were brick-built with round arches, a draw hole, and were loaded with alternating layers of chalk and fuel from the top.

The buildings next to the kilns have also been restored to show the grinding mill, which would have been driven by a steam train engine parked inside the shed.

Theresa Griffiths (photos thanks to Richard)
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Thank you to Theresa for organising our day.