Isle of Purbeck Industries

STONE...

Purbeck is noted for its heritage coast and countryside. Within this area are diverse mineral reserves which have been extracted over the centuries. Most famous of these is Purbeck stone, a hard limestone which occurs in varying types from Swanage, Langton, Acton and Worth Matravers. Stone was also extracted as far west as Blashenwell Farm in the parish of Corfe Castle. Over the years Purbeck has supplied stone for many fine buildings including the castle at Corfe. Purbeck stone is not simply a good building material as it can be polished to provide decorative panels and columns. When thus worked, the multitude of fossilised creatures which formed it can be clearly seen. Stone was mainly won by underground quarrying and hauled to the surface by horse or donkey powering a large capstan winch. Modern methods generally employ open cast methods - often recovering the stone which was left as the ceiling for the old workings.

CLAY...

Clay mining both above and underground has occurred since roman times. In contrast to the stone industry, clay was until 1998 still worked underground, the most recent shaft being sunk at Norden close to Corfe Castle in the early 90's.
The ball clay which is produced has a multitude of uses including toothpaste, as well as the expected use for pottery. For some time the clay was transported from mine to dispatch point by a wonderful system of narrow-gauge railways. These sadly, are now gone, only the old tramways remain and clay like most other products, leaves Purbeck via a rather less romantic method - diesel trucks. Sadly also, a decision was later reached to stop all underground working, leaving the mines on a "care & maintenance" basis. A visit in 2002 showed that the underground workings are now abandoned.

BALL CLAYS

These clays are Tertiary (Mesozoic) deposits of sedimentary origin. They were initially dug out of the ground as blocks or balls - hence the name. Their geological age, chemical compositions and geographical locations vary greatly.

The main areas of occurrence are:

1) The Newton Abbot area of South Devon.

2) Torrington, North Devon

3) Dorset - Isle of Purbeck and Wimbourne

Extraction is done by both open cast and underground methods. Underground workings rarely extend more than 100 feet below the surface. Ball clays are plastic so are suitable for throwing and machine use. For casting they need greater addition of defloculents (chemicals to make them behave as a liquid when water is added). The colours produced after firing vary depending on the clay.

CHALK...

Not quarried on such a scale as the foregoing, chalk is gathered from the ridge of hills which run from the coast at Swanage, through to Weymouth. Chalk is an excellent material for hard-core and light road building. In earlier times chalk was burned in kilns to produce lime for mortar and soil conditioning. A kiln still remains on the hillside at Church Knowle.

OIL...

At first glance, oil would seem to be a modern industry, yet the outcropping of oil shale at Kimmeridge was used in early days as a rather smoky form of fuel and when worked and polished, as ornaments. An abortive attempt was made to use the shale on a commercial basis, but this was short-lived. Around 1960 a small pump was set up on a bore hole at Kimmeridge and has produced a small but reliable source of oil up to the present day. British gas discovered reserves of natural gas while drilling at Wytch Farm, Corfe Castle and from this sprang the large undertaking now run by B.P. Amoco Ltd. BP has exploited the oil and gas reserves in the Wytch and Poole harbour areas to an amazing degree, which resulted in the building of a large processing plant at Wytch and a new access road. Co-operation between the company and the planners has resulted in minimum disturbance to the countryside, and where possible land once used for industry has been restored to such an extent one would not have known that it had existed! Wytch continues to produce vast quantities of oil and gas, the former being piped out of the district underground, while gas leaves in long trains of pressurised containers via part of the old railway line which formed the Swanage branch.