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NACTON, SUFFOLK

 

Nacton was referred to in geological literature as being one of a number of Suffolk villages in 1858 which were exporting coprolites. (Mem.Geol.Surv.Mineral Statistics, HMSO.1860,p.375) No other documentation of the workings has emerged. It's possible that they were worked on land farmed by John Dawson who in 1861 described himself as a "Farmer and Merchant of 1,600 acres in Nacton and Levington employing 40 men and 9 boys." None of the locals were described as employed in coprolite or fossil diggings but in many cases, where a farmer raised them from his own land he used his own agricultural labourers during the low season over Winter. In which case the men and boys went back to normal agricultural work in the spring and didn't consider coprolite digging as a main occupation. (Suff.R.O. Nacton's 1861 census)