[2] From 1798 until 1810 Tucking Mill was the home of William Smith, an English geologist, credited with creating the first nationwide geological map.

When the plaque was rediscovered in the 1930s the Geological Society of London and the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution placed it on the 18th-century cottage.

[6][7][8] During his occupation he built a small railway to transport stone from a quarry at Kingham Field, Combe Down to the canal.

The slurry then passed through an earthenware pipe to Tucking Mill, where a second stage of sedimentation took place in large troughs where it settled for up to 30 days.

Once the water had been drained by sluices the damp caked earth was carried in wooden trams to kilns where it was dried for three to four days.