At Lynwick Street in Sussex, the Baggeridge Brick company (now part of Wienerberger) makes its product using clay extracted from what is now a large, muddy hole in the ground. We went there on a field trip, hoping to find the beautiful, faint remains of Cretaceous airborne insects. They have been found there in the past, but finds this time were, in geology-speak, not abundant.
Weald Clay is a sediment, laid long ago
As a rain of fine particles, falling like snow
Through water, to settle as thick, sticky dough
In which dragonflies fell when their time came to go.
In Lynwick Street, Baggeridge dug up a field
To strip out the clay where these fossils are sealed.
In their brick pit we searched for them, boots all congealed;
But still they remain in the mud of the Weald,
For we failed to unearth them, I’m sorry to say,
Save a wingtip or two. So that’s where they’ll stay,
Entombed in their Wealden Beds, gooey and grey,
Awaiting extraction the Baggeridge way.