Talk:Shell Grotto, Margate

Age

Surely an approximate age could be determined from the decorative style? 82.32.238.139 23:05, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Yep. Looked to me like the whole thing was a complete fraud and built in the 1920s :) --feline1 13:59, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Well it really exists. No claims are made, so how would its (meticulous and painstaking) construction in the 1920s constitute a fraud?--Shantavira|^{feed me} 17:08, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

It defies belief that the shells can't be dated. It seems that there just isn't the will to unravel a good mystery. Why can't the surface contamination be etched away before performing C-14 dating? Why can't the rate of soot diffusion through the shells be measured and accounted for? Why can't samples be taken from the really large shells that will have been less effected by soot? Are there no shell fragments outside the chambers---surely some would have been dropped or lost or slung away for not being the right shape or being damaged? Were some not removed when the Dane Road entrance was made that would be uncontaminated? And finally, what about trying Sclerochronology, which is like dendrochronology but examining the growth rings in the shell, or Optical dating?JBel (talk) 23:28, 20 July 2010 (UTC)

No doubt because the owners of the site would hardly like to put a period to the "unanswered questions" which draw paying visitors. I agree with the commenter below -- the most likely date for the grotto's construction is somewhere in the century prior to its discovery. It has the feel of an 18th-century folly. RandomCritic (talk) 19:21, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

It has Gothic arches, so the most likely periods would either be 1200-1500 or, much more likely, the late 18th century when Gothic follies of all kinds were fashionable. But it is puzzling that there is no documentary evidence of its construction or ownership in the 18th century.86.161.14.107 (talk) 20:36, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

There is another chalk mine in Margate They crushed the chalk, and sold it as gardeners supply (anti-acid), or converted it to lime, to make white wash and cements, and well Margate was booming... so a chalk quarry would hardly attract any attention.

Also, shells were collected from shelly beaches for conversion to lime. So the supply of so many shells, is pretty much evidence of a large scale operation... of the 18th century... they were the perfect shells collected from the limeburners operations !

In the 18th Century, shell grottos were a fashionable thing across England, so there is nothing newsworthy about yet another one. Margate was a busy tourist town, nothing remarkable about yet another tourist attraction in town. So limeburners would have collected perfect shells from any supply of shells they had.

And so my theory is that the old chalk miner lived above the chalk, and made himself a small chalk quarry, entry via garden shed, and converted it into a shell grotto, eg because his family were lime burners too. But then it was just covered over and forgotten about for 50 years until the new owner was extending and dug into its entry. 220.158.191.246 (talk) 02:59, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

Move

This page was moved from Shell Grotto, Margate in 2010 to Shell Grotto with the edit summary "No need to disambiguate". As we already had two other articles on shell grotto's then, it would have made more sense to leave the article where it was and use the plain title as a disambiguation page. So I've put this article back and done that. Moonraker12 (talk) 18:44, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

"Theories"

There's quite a bit of unencyclopedic, straight-up bullshit listed as meaningful theories as to the origin of the structure. Ancient Cretan!? This should be excised or exposed for the probable marketing ploy it is. As others on the talk page have mentioned, it's wildly improbable that it couldn't have been easily scientifically dated (or at least aspects of it), and such research seems unavailable. Drumming up fake mystery is unencyclopedic.

209.52.88.60 (talk) 16:26, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

Correct, the obvious thing is that it was a chalk mine in the 18th century, when chalk and shells were used by limeburners.. to make lime. Shell grottos were fashionable in the 18th century, but that was also because the lime burners, who had industrialised shell collection from shelly beaches, could supply perfect shells for them.

shells in a chalk mine ? connected by the lime burners. often a trade is passed down father to son, so an old man living at his old chalk quarry may have sons who had a supply of shells with no buyers...

The wikipedia entry for shell grottos says that early 18th century shell grottos were built in rooms, like a spare bedroom or a basement or chapel ..or a folly.. like for afternoon tea in the garden. But anyway late 18th century they were recreating caves in basements, or digging caves and grottos, or using natural caves, or old quarries/mines... 220.158.191.246 (talk) 03:04, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

Age II

In the article are still a lot of claimes that are obviously a marketing scheme. Phonezian? There are gothic arches a very distinct contruction technique which according to wikipedia itself is younger than 1000 years. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.221.243.108 (talk) 20:01, 7 February 2021 (UTC)