Kimmeridge

“KIMMERIDGE, a parish in the hundred of Hasilor, county Dorset, 5 miles S. of Wareham, its post town, and 3½ S.W. of Corfe Castle. It is situated on Ledge Bay, near St. Alban's Head, and is a coastguard station. It formerly belonged to Cerne Abbey, and was given by Henry VIII. to the Uvedales and Clavells, who built a pier and worked the alum up to 1745. British coins have been found, called "coal money," and copperas stones are abundant on the shore. Fossil coal of a vituminous nature is found in the cliffs, which burns with a strong light and emits a sulphureous smell, but when exposed to the air splits into pieces like slate. The village is very small and wholly agricultural. The entrance to the small bay called Botteridge Pool is between two high cliffs defended by a battery. The living is a donative curacy* in the diocese of Sarum, value £100. The church is in the Norman style of architecture, with a segmental doorway. Smedmore House is the principal residence. It is an ancient mansion, and has been in the possession of the Clavell family since the reign of Edward IV. Colonel Mansel, who is a descendant of the Clavell family, is lord of the manor and sole landowner."

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from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868