is this rock in a natural form or something man made

[Dogghound]

I agree this is slag, we get it on the old railway lines up here.

[loripo]

What about glass making?

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by alge

Hello, I found several fragments of something that i cant fathom. Hopefully someone may have an answer as to what it is.

Found in a sweet chestnut coppice of some age, in a spot noted for its geological variety in the context of kent. Chalk, clay, thanet bed. woolwich, sand + plus others i cant remember apparently are all evident within close proximity to one another.

There has been a history & evidence of low levels of population for several thousand years close by, so by no means an isolated spot.

I cant work out if this is some sort of slag type substance, the globular appearance of one surface certainly reminds me of welding, and the rusty hue suggest a high content of an ore. But the feel although heavy is pretty rock like. where it has broken it has the look of a broken casting and air pockets suggest it formed quickly.

Typical metal working slag, difficult to be certain from a photo but looks like post medieval iron slag. Given the degree of weather it may be worth taking it along to yur local museum service fr a definitive ident. If it is notable it will be useful to have the find location added to the local Sites and Monuments Survey, the museum service will advise on this.

It's worth bearing in mind that metal wastes are often used for path/track/road surfacing so it get's very widely distributed, but on the Weald iron was worked for over 2,000 years so you may have located a working site not previously recorded.

CM

[ChrisJB]

Originally Posted by solus

Looks a bit like slag from iron founding to me but I really don't know. It doesn't look natural though.

This is what it is. It can sometimes be found adjacent to old bloomeries here in the South Pennines, amongst other places.

Regards, Chris

[Brocakat]

It does look like old slag to me, too.