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ECONOMIC USES Copperas The accumulations of pyrite (copperas stone - iron disulphide) that gather on the beach were formerly collected. Pyrite readily decomposed to produce green vitriol (ferrous sulphate), which was used to produce dyestuffs and medicines. William George (1984) gives an account of the copperas industry at Sheppey. Pyrite collectors were often paid by tokens, rather than cash.
Cement Stone The collection of cement stones to burn to produce Roman or Parker's Cement started in the early nineteenth century. By the 1830's nearly all of the cement stones had been removed from the north coast of Sheppey leading to increased erosion and concern from the adjacent landowners. By the mid-nineteenth the discovery of Portland Cement, made from the readily available Chalk and Gault Clay, lead to a cessation in the trade. The fossils that were encountered whilst gathering cement stones were an additional source of revenue to the collectors. Bowerbank (1840: 205-6) in a letter to the Magazine of Natural History gives a few hints to the readers on the mode of procuring fossils of the London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey.
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