Given the name of "Soapeyrock", (also referred to locally as Steatite), and identified as such in the 1720s by naturalist Dr John Woodward (1665–1728), and subsequently by Cornish historian William Borlase (1695–1772), it had first been located from coastal cliff sites in the serpentinite of Kynance Cove, SSE, as a mineral with potential economic value. The first studies were conducted as early as the 1670s and 1680s. During the 1720s it was used experimentally to make porcelain. Progress in the industry was slow and very costly. The high magnesium content, white colour and very fine powdery texture, which turned soaprock into a very fine clay when wet, helped to make it heat-resistant, and therefore suitable as an ingredient in the production of early ceramics.