Monument record TR 16 NW 1002 - Tankerton Copperas Works

Archaeological evaluation revealed timber structural remains, stained flint cobbling, chalk and limestone spreads, and numerous brick, iron and lead artefacts. Supported by documentary evidence these are thought to represent the remains of copperas beds and boilers operating from the later 16th to the early 19th centuries. Finds included a 15th/16th century cloth seal recovered from the cobbling. (3) The timber is thought to represent a series of triangular dry-land structures, probably associated with a substantial poured mortar floor and perhaps representing a later copperas bed post-dating that of the flint/limestone spreads. Copperas Houses appear on 1770 fisheries chart (2). In 1565 a patent was granted to Cornelius Stephenson for making copperas at Whitstable ... the first man to manufacture coperas at Tankerton on a large scale seems to have been Thomas Menfield .. (1).

<1> Goodsall, R. H., 1956, The Whitstable Copperas Industry (Article in serial). SWX7456.

<2> 1770, Oyster fisheries boundary dispute chart, 1770 (Chart). SWX9341.

<3> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1997, The Tankerton Copperas Works and the Copperas Industry in the South of England (Unpublished document). SWX6705.