HISTORY
The greyish, mineral-rich clay, called fuller’s earth is well-known for its absorbent qualities and has many uses ranging from ingredients in cosmetics to ‘mud’ used for drilling oil wells. It's best known use is as cat litter, of which millions of bags are sold every year to adoring pet owners.
On the Redhill deposit, the most successful quarry operating at the turn of the century was the Copyhold Works of the Fuller’s Earth Union Ltd, established c.1860-70. Initially supplying the woollen trade, demand later shifted to the growing chemical and commodity sector. In 1954 the works, by now employing close to 800 men, were bought by chemical company Laporte Industries. Production was stepped up to meet increasing demand and a large factory consisting of kilns, granulators, silos and transit systems on several floors was built. In the 1980s, the Copyhold site was sending loose earths and packaged cat litter around the world.
By 1995, however, due to falling profits it was announced that the company would close some of its 100 worldwide plants. The Copyhold works fell victim the following year and the Laporte Group was broken up and sold to an American private equity firm trading as Rockwood Holdings Inc. After the production lines were switched off, the 119 acre pit was purchased for use as a landfill site by Biffa Waste Services and continues to take waste from across Surrey. The factory was for a while used as a waste transfer station but this too was abandoned at some time in the last four years and the site is now derelict.
EXPLORE
This was the second time I'd visited Fullers Earthworks. I had to take a different route in than I did the first time as it seems they have now erected wooden boards all around the structure of the building. Perhaps the workmen lost interest towards the end of their project, as they were not particularly thorough...
A nice little mooch was had. I spent about three or four hours exploring the site. At one point, I swore I could hear a saxophone of all things. I moved closer to the source of the sound, and a song became audible: it was the Bee Gees. I hate the Bee Gees. Moving closer still, I could see that this hideous sound was being emitted from a security guard's car. After a few minutes he drove off and I was free to continue wandering around in a blissfully Bee Gees free environment.
The greyish, mineral-rich clay, called fuller’s earth is well-known for its absorbent qualities and has many uses ranging from ingredients in cosmetics to ‘mud’ used for drilling oil wells. It's best known use is as cat litter, of which millions of bags are sold every year to adoring pet owners.
On the Redhill deposit, the most successful quarry operating at the turn of the century was the Copyhold Works of the Fuller’s Earth Union Ltd, established c.1860-70. Initially supplying the woollen trade, demand later shifted to the growing chemical and commodity sector. In 1954 the works, by now employing close to 800 men, were bought by chemical company Laporte Industries. Production was stepped up to meet increasing demand and a large factory consisting of kilns, granulators, silos and transit systems on several floors was built. In the 1980s, the Copyhold site was sending loose earths and packaged cat litter around the world.
By 1995, however, due to falling profits it was announced that the company would close some of its 100 worldwide plants. The Copyhold works fell victim the following year and the Laporte Group was broken up and sold to an American private equity firm trading as Rockwood Holdings Inc. After the production lines were switched off, the 119 acre pit was purchased for use as a landfill site by Biffa Waste Services and continues to take waste from across Surrey. The factory was for a while used as a waste transfer station but this too was abandoned at some time in the last four years and the site is now derelict.
EXPLORE
This was the second time I'd visited Fullers Earthworks. I had to take a different route in than I did the first time as it seems they have now erected wooden boards all around the structure of the building. Perhaps the workmen lost interest towards the end of their project, as they were not particularly thorough...
A nice little mooch was had. I spent about three or four hours exploring the site. At one point, I swore I could hear a saxophone of all things. I moved closer to the source of the sound, and a song became audible: it was the Bee Gees. I hate the Bee Gees. Moving closer still, I could see that this hideous sound was being emitted from a security guard's car. After a few minutes he drove off and I was free to continue wandering around in a blissfully Bee Gees free environment.