Nutfield’s main claim to fame is its history as the principal source of fuller’s earth in the United Kingdom. For centuries, the Lower Greensand ridge running through Nutfield, from Tilburstow Hill, south of Godstone, to Reigate, yielded high-quality deposits of this rare mineral.
Formed from volcanic ash submerged underwater millions of years ago, fuller’s earth (calcium montmorillonite) is a unique clay mineral with powerful water-sealing, bonding, and absorbent properties. Once dried and ground into a fine powder, it became an indispensable resource for global industry.
Used extensively for cleaning or 'fulling' woollen cloth, it still has a wide range of applications, from refining edible oils and fats, face masks and cleansing products and cat litter, where its ability to absorb moisture and odours is ideal.
The useful properties of fuller’s earth have been recognized for thousands of years. The Romans used it as a detergent for cleaning, thickening, and finishing cloth in commercial laundries known as ‘fulleries,’ a term derived from the Latin word for laundry worker, fullones. Workers prepared the cloth by washing and kneading it in water mixed with the ground rock, a process known as "fulling."
While Roman coins discovered in fuller’s earth pits near Maidstone prove the industry thrived during the Roman occupation, it is highly probable that the rich Nutfield deposits were exploited during this same era. By the 13th and 14th centuries, as wool production and cloth processing became strategically important to the English economy, the trade expanded rapidly.
Local streams across Surrey were harnessed to power mechanical fulling mills, which washed and cleansed the cloth, while the surrounding hills provided excellent pasture for sheep. The industry became so vital to the realm that during the reign of Elizabeth I, laws were passed strictly prohibiting the export of fuller’s earth to protect domestic textile production.
In its earliest days, digging fuller’s earth was a secondary occupation to farming for local inhabitants, often tied to nearby weaving and dyeing activities. Because the seam emerged as an outcrop along the top of the ridge, the earliest operations were simple, open-cast surface mines.
Clues to this rural industry remain hidden in local records:
Woolpits (1569): A local tenement mentioned in a 1569 court roll and located near the Bletchingley boundary probably derived its name from nearby pits used to treat wool.
John Aubrey’s Account (1718): The famous 17th-century antiquarian John Aubrey explicitly documented both fuller's earth and ragstone being dug at Nutfield during his survey of Surrey.
By the 19th century, this rural craft had evolved into a major trade. The oldest pit still operating in the 1830s sat south of the main road, just west of Fuller’s Wood Lane. The 1843 Nutfield Tithe Map records another substantial pit, covering about an acre, at the south-west corner of Cormonger’s Lane—the site where Patteson Court was later built.
The underground legacy of these historic pits occasionally breached the surface in dramatic fashion. In April 1965, the Surrey Mirror reported the sudden, temporary closure of the A25 opposite Patteson Court.
‘The cavity, which extends to almost the full width of the road, is about seven feet deep and appears to be man-made. It has an arched roof of rough-hewn stone and a curving wall. The floor which slopes sharply downwards, is littered with rocks and fallen earth. To reach it our reporter ducked below the gas main and crawled through an aperture only three feet wide. Inside it is possible to stand upright. The crust of the road, which carries much heavy traffic, is about four feet thick and completely unsupported.’
The road had suffered severe subsidence, collapsing directly into a void left by the ancient mine workings running beneath the highway.
An intrepid reporter from the newspaper even ventured down into the subterranean cavern. It ultimately took more than 210 tons of concrete to fill the cavity and stabilize the road before it could safely reopen two weeks later.
The 19th century brought an intensive, highly organized phase of extraction. As competition between independent quarries grew fierce, several local workings, including the Copyhold works, amalgamated in 1890 to form the Fuller's Earth Union Ltd. This marked the transition from scattered, family-run pits to a coordinated corporate enterprise. Large-scale processing facilities were established near Nutfield and Redhill, enabling rapid production and rail distribution.
The 20th century represented the absolute peak of the industry in Nutfield. In 1860, publications like The Builder noted that the area raised 6,000 tons annually for export and domestic use in Yorkshire and Lancashire. By 1920, mechanised quarrying and improved transport links pushed production to a staggering 22,000 tons per annum.
As the textile industry changed, Nutfield’s fuller’s earth found new modern uses, including:
Industrial applications: a bonding agent for foundry sands and drilling muds.
Refining: clarifying and filtering edible oils and fats.
Cosmetics: a foundational ingredient in deep-cleansing face masks.
Domestic use: the ideal base for commercial cat litter, due to its exceptional ability to absorb moisture and trap odours.
Official national records begun in 1854 estimated a cumulative output of 9.3 million tonnes of fuller's earth in the UK, with roughly 65% of the entire nation's supply originating directly from the Redhill and Nutfield seam.
Like many extractive industries, the exploitation of fuller’s earth in Nutfield eventually faced an inevitable decline. Laporte Industries acquired the operations in 1954, but faced the gradual exhaustion of economically viable deposits. By the 1980s, they were entirely spent, bringing an end to centuries of large-scale extraction the in Nutfield.
Today, the massive former quarries have been creatively repurposed. Some are landfill sites, while others have been completely restored as flourishing wetlands and nature reserves. The story of Nutfield’s fuller’s earth traces a fascinating path from a small, muddy rural craft to a massive industrial enterprise, leaving behind a transformed landscape.
Nutfield: Our village since Domesday Richard Deacon
The Natural History and Antiquities of the county of Surrey. Begun in the year 1673, Vol 3 (1718) by John Aubrey
Surrey Mirror 2 April 1965
Detail of an 18th century engraving of Scotswomen waulking (fulling) cloth, and singing. Unknown author, circa 1770