Editing Coprolite (section)

==Coprolite mining<span class="anchor" id="Coprolite mining"></span>==
In 1842 the Rev [[John Stevens Henslow]], a professor of botany at [[St John's College, Cambridge]], discovered coprolites just outside [[Felixstowe]] in [[Suffolk]] in the villages of [[Trimley St Martin]],<ref name="trimley">{{cite web|url=http://www.trimley-st-martin.org.uk/downloads/TSMCMR.pdf|title=Trimley St Martin and the Coprolite Mining Rush| first = Berridge | last = Eve | name-list-style = vanc |date=2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008170433/http://www.trimley-st-martin.org.uk/downloads/TSMCMR.pdf|archive-date=2007-10-08}}</ref> [[Falkenham]] and [[Kirton, Suffolk|Kirton]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bernardoconnor.org.uk/Coprolites/Suffcops/KIRTON.htm|title=(Corpolites in) Kirton, Suffolk| first = Bernard | last = O'Connor | name-list-style = vanc |date=2009|access-date=2017-02-02}}</ref> and investigated their composition. Realising their potential as a source of available phosphate once they had been treated with [[sulphuric acid]], he patented an extraction process and set about finding new sources.<ref name= "O'Connor">{{cite journal|title=The Origins and Development of the British Coprolite Industry|vauthors=O'Connor B, Ford TD|journal=Mining History: The Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society|volume=14|issue=5|date=2001|url=http://archive.pdmhs.com/PDFs/ScannedBulletinArticles/Bulletin%2014-5%20-%20The%20Origins%20and%20Development%20of%20the%20British%20.pdf|access-date=2017-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202234707/http://archive.pdmhs.com/PDFs/ScannedBulletinArticles/Bulletin%2014-5%20-%20The%20Origins%20and%20Development%20of%20the%20British%20.pdf|archive-date=2017-02-02|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Very soon, coprolites were being mined on an industrial scale for use as [[fertiliser]] due to their high [[phosphate]] content. The major area of extraction occurred over the east of England, centred on [[Cambridgeshire]] and the [[Isle of Ely]]<ref name="mining1">{{Cite journal|url=http://www.bahs.org.uk/24n1a4.pdf|title=Coprolite Mining in Cambridgeshire|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060309184349/http://www.bahs.org.uk/24n1a4.pdf|archive-date=2006-03-09 | vauthors = Grove R |journal=Agricultural History Review|volume=24|issue=1|date=1976}}</ref><ref name="mining2">{{cite web|url= http://www.rootsweb.com/~engcam/coprolite.htm |title=Cambridgeshire - The Coprolite Mining Industry|publisher=EnglandGenWeb|date=13 January 2000}}</ref> with its refining being carried out in [[Ipswich]] by the [[Fisons|Fison]] Company.<ref name="mining2" /> There is a [[Coprolite Street]] near [[Ipswich dock]]s where the Fisons works once stood.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/nature/walk_thru_time/05.shtml | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060220080540/http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/nature/walk_thru_time/05.shtml |archive-date=2006-02-20|title=Industrial Revolution|publisher=BBC Suffolk}}</ref>

The industry declined in the 1880s<ref name="mining2" /><ref name="trimley" /> but was revived briefly during the [[First World War]] to provide phosphates for munitions.<ref name="mining1" /> A renewed interest in coprolite mining in the First World War extended the area of interest into parts of [[Buckinghamshire]] as far west as [[Woburn Sands]].<ref name="O'Connor" />