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STRICTLY speaking, Ashford marble is not marble but an impure form of limestone.

The main source of black marble was Arrock Quarry, on the Sheldon road from Ashford.

Once fashionable, it was made into clocks, candlesticks, book-ends, snuff and cigarette boxes, crosses, ink stands, obelisks and thermometers.

The 4th Earl of Devonshire used it for interior building work during his major rebuilding of Chatsworth House. But the industry declined in 1905 due to a dramatic fall in demand.