More information : SS 8162849247. The remains of a limekiln set into the base of steep, thickly wooded, coastal slopes, above a shingle embankment at Embelle Wood Beach.
The circular stone-built kiln is now generally in a poor condition and covered in trees and scrub. Its south side abutts the cliff base so its full dimensions cannot be definitely assessed but it is about 7.5m diameter and stands some 3.5m high. Its flat top contains a well preserved central kiln bowl, 2.6m diameter and about 3.6m deep, which was loaded from the east side. There are three arched, corbelled walled, access bays, or lobbies, on the north, east and west sides, fronted by a working platform. Now partly collapsed and half full of debris, which obscures their draw-holes and poking-holes, they are each about 1.8m wide, 2.7m deep and some 2.2m high to their flat slabbed ceilings. The west bay has an unusual timber lintel beam and is supported by an external buttress on its north side. The east bay is approached by a passage 1.5m wide protected by a wall 1.7m high.
The limestone was brought from ships beached on the shingle, and the kiln approached from the east by a track, still evident, along the base of the cliff. The lime was removed via a track going off to the west and also still visible though partly overgrown. Pieces of coal are still evident around the kiln in the south-east.
There is a rectangular ancillary building, with chimney stack in its south gable, to the immediate west of the kiln. Its roof has fallen in and its western wall has collapsed inwards.
SS 81494932. Some 140m west along the coast in the wood on leveller ground are the remains of a house, minor buildings and yards, a low circular stone walled feature and associated walls, all probably contemporary withthe kiln.
The limekiln and three of the structures originally shown on the 1888 Ordnance Survey plan (1) are depicted on the 1974 revision (2). (3) |