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NACTON,
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)